Prebiotics in Food Are More Certain Source of Health Benefits Than Prebiotic Sodas
While the health benefits of prebiotics in soda are debated, ChE Professor Rebecca Carrier recommends relying on the definitive evidence that food with prebiotics promote a healthy gut and can have overall health benefits.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Erin Kayata. Main photo: Poppi totes itself as being good for your gut. But can it really make a difference? Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
Do prebiotic sodas like Poppi help your gut? Here’s why they might not be as helpful as you think
Health classes and dieticians drilled into people that soda is bad for one’s health thanks to all the sugar. So it’s no wonder a brand like Poppi took off.
The prebiotic soda advertises itself as a healthier alternative to a can of Coke or Pepsi. Coming in both fruity and more traditional flavors (like coke and root beer), Poppi boasts only five grams of sugar, 25 calories, and compounds that purport to help your gut health.
The brand’s claim about its gut health benefits is now being called into question in a new lawsuit. Kristin Cobbs recently filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco claiming that despite the way they advertise their product, Poppi doesn’t contain enough prebiotic to provide any actual benefit.
Cobbs’ lawsuit claims that there’s about 2 grams of prebiotic agave inulin fiber while research shows that even consuming over three times that amount on a daily basis won’t provide any real benefit.
Rebecca Carrier, associate chair of research in the department of chemical engineering. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
Rebecca Carrier, a chemical engineering professor at Northeastern University, said it’s hard to determine the recommended daily dose of prebiotics, but there’s ways to get them that might be more effective than drinking soda.
“Prebiotic is such a broad term that captures such a broad set of different materials,” said Carrier who studies the interactions between biological systems and materials introduced to it. “It makes sense, in thinking of how much prebiotic is in a product, to compare that amount to what’s been shown to have benefits, or to how much is in foods that have been correlated with health benefits. What I might be concerned about is that a lot of some prebiotic beverages also contain other stuff like sugar. There might be too much sugar in the drink. Even if the amount is lower than traditional soda, that might be something you want to pay attention to.”
Poppi was founded by a married couple in Austin, Texas who had the idea to combine fruit juice, apple cider vinegar, and inulin prebiotics with sparkling water to create a flavorful, yet healthy soda. The brand took off after winning an investment on “Shark Tank” and now counts celebrities such as Kylie Jenner, Hailey Bieber, and Jennifer Lopez among their fans.
Poppi advertises itself as good for your gut, but one Northeastern expert said soda might not be the best way to get prebiotics. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
Selling for about $2.49 a can, the nutrition label on the sodas indicate they come with about seven percent of the dietary fiber one needs in a day and four percent of one’s daily recommended sugar serving.
Carrier adds that there’s evidence to show that it might be better to get probiotics and prebiotics through whole foods like fruits and vegetables than through processed material like a soda or through a supplement.
“We have lots of definitive evidence that ingesting foods that include those prebiotics could have potential health benefits,” Carrier says. “But consuming them in beverages, I don’t think we know precisely what’s going to happen.”
Read full story at Northeastern Global News