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JUST BEFORE RAPPER-turned-country-phenom Post Malone took to the field at Super Bowl LVIII to belt out his rendition of “America the Beautiful,” he recorded a six-second video relayed to half a million TikTok followers. It wasn’t a shoutout to his Cowboys. It wasn’t a vocal warmup. It wasn’t even a “Let’s goooo!” There he was—with his jewel-encrusted teeth, wearing a white shirt and a chunky silver bolo tie—taking a glug of soda. Specifically, a wild berry Poppi. Then he turned to the camera, grinned, and said, “Soda is back!”
Where soda went exactly is kind of a big deal right now. Malone, like millions of other Americans, was drinking much less traditional soda. Consumption per capita has dipped every year since the late 1990s. One motivation: cutting added sugar and other empty calories. Malone himself says quitting his Coca-Cola habit—and picking up Poppi—has helped him lose 55 pounds since 2022.
And Poppi is just one drop in a sea of so-called healthier sodas. Olipop, Culture Pop, Mighty Pop, Wildwonder, Turveda—they’re all competing for some of the buzz, promising all the bubbles and flavor with way less calories and hardly any sugar. Some brands even advertise that their soda will improve your gut health, digestion, and immunity and—yes, Malone—help you lose weight, all by way of beneficial pre- and/or probiotic ingredients.
Industry analysts include these pops-with-perks in the market category of “functional beverages,” which is expected to reach a value of $62 billion by 2027. “They have become really popular really fast,” says Erwin Henriquez, a senior research analyst for the Americas at Euromonitor International. Olipop alone should reach $500 million in sales by the end of this year; Poppi has reportedly been eyed for acquisition by the red giant itself, Coca-Cola. (Poppi denies this rumor.)
You can also credit (blame?) the pandemic, during which the world scrambled for any pill, potion, or gummy that might bolster immunity. Sales of dietary supplements marketed for immune health spiked during Covid—and haven’t come down. According to Euromonitor data, the number of products in the U. S. with “probiotic claims” soared by 406 percent between 2019 and 2023. The market value of prebiotic products, such as Olipop, is expected to grow to $6.61 billion by 2029.
What’s really interesting is that functional-beverage makers aren’t doing anything all that new. Manufacturers of other gut-healthy treats, like snack mixes, cookies, and chips, have leveraged the health halo of microbiome-friendly foods to powerful effect.
But as companies selling gut-health products fatten their bottom lines, experts aren’t even sure these products actually help us slim down—or boost our immunity.
Little Bacteria, Big Deal
I’M NOT A regular soda drinker, more of a Topo Chico guy, but I’ll admit I was curious about functional sodas. While I wouldn’t throw myself into the data-tracking “optimizer” camp, I pay attention to what I eat and drink for the sake of my overall health. Prebiotics, probiotics—I’d heard plenty about how good these things were for my microbiome, a concept that admittedly I knew close to nothing about, except that it was somehow essential to my well-being.
So for four days, I drank a can of Olipop’s Classic Root Beer (taste: fine) each day before I had to end my experiment. The excessive bloating, flatulence, and wait, again? visits to the bathroom—I wasn’t sure exactly how, but these drinks were doing some sort of number on my digestive system. (Posters on the r/soda subreddit have called the drink “Olipoop,” so my pain is shared, apparently.) If this is what improving my microbiome takes, I’m not sure I have the guts.
What I later learned is that the microbiome is way more complicated than “probiotics in, everything I ate in the last eight hours out.” It’s an “additional living world” that’s inside and on you, says Andrea Love, Ph.D., a microbiologist and immunologist. Your microbiome is made up of tiny bacteria and other microorganisms that hang out not just in your gut but throughout your body, like in your mouth and on your skin. One of its roles is “taking up the square footage,” Love says, to provide less space for pathogens to colonize.
The gut has taken the microbiome spotlight because it houses the highest proportion of bacteria. We likely have 1,000 or so species, and maybe up to 100 trillion individual critters in total, which can weigh up to five pounds. Early research indicates that your gut microbiome may do everything from training immune cells to healing wounds to supporting a healthy metabolism. And when I say “early,” know that this research only started in earnest in 2007 with the NIH’s Human Microbiome Project. In research terms, 17 years is nothing.
There’s not even a scientific consensus yet on what makes a gut healthy. “You can’t say what a singular healthy microbiome is, because it’s going to be completely different for every single person,” says Love. Emerging science does indicate that what we consume will end up either feeding the good bacteria or becoming bacteria itself (more on that soon), but there’s no hard research showing which foods or drinks might create certain positive or negative outcomes in people. In short, the initial science has opened the door for hype, but so much more work needs to be done.
“That gap we have right now is a gold mine for companies to slide in,” says Caitlin Dow, Ph.D., a senior nutrition scientist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer watchdog group. Browse the crunchy section of your grocery store or swipe through Amazon and you’ll find scores of packaged gut-health products. There’s BelliWelli, a brand that sells things like soft-baked birthday-cake bars that contain “real probiotics” (Bacillus coagulans). There’s Nature’s Garden’s Immune Snack Packs, with “5 billion CFU live cultures.” There’s Wonderslim’s Well Chips, a bag of which purportedly “supports immune and digestive health.” Cookies, snack mixes, chips, soda—the promise of delicious-sounding, gut-healthy products is that they help the medicine go down. Which kind of feels like a case of too good to be true?
Let’s start with the stuff that appears to have legitimate (if early) scientific backing: the idea that prebiotics and probiotics might improve your microbiome—and maybe your health as a result. Food manufacturers like to throw prebiotics and probiotics under the “gut health” umbrella. But the two classifications are totally different.
Prebiotics is “essentially a marketing word for fiber,” Love says, and they’re the preferred food for the gut bacteria in your microbiome. When your gut bacteria consume prebiotic fiber, they “poop out” short-chain fatty acids, explains Jack Gilbert, Ph.D., a microbiologist at the University of California San Diego, who cofounded the Earth Microbiome Project and the American Gut Project (now the Microsetta Initiative). Early research suggests that these fatty acids may tamp down the chronic inflammation in your body that can lead to all kinds of diseases.
You’ll find prebiotics in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts—so lots of stuff that’s good for you. But within gut-healthy foods and drinks, they usually appear as inulin, a naturally derived plant-fiber extract. Inulin is sweet and inexpensive, and it comes from a variety of sources, including chicory root and Jerusalem artichoke (in Olipop’s case) and agave (in Poppi’s).
Probiotics, by comparison, are the bacteria themselves (as well as viruses, fungi, and other microscopic living things) that exist in “live” and fermented foods. Their role is far more complex and less understood by researchers than that of prebiotics.
Despite what you may have heard, probiotics don’t just settle right into your microbiome after you ingest them. Instead, they’re “seen” by your immune system, Gilbert says, which may trigger enhanced inflammation reduction. But he adds that probiotics rarely survive our stomach acid on the way to the gut. (Early studies also indicate that probiotics, fragile little guys that they are, may not survive some kinds of food processing.) And the probiotics in what you consume (yogurt, cheese, kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, functional sodas) may not have as much effect on the health of your microbiome as your overall fiber intake, antibiotic use, and smoking habits do.
Knowing the nuances of gut health helped me realize why my brief fling with Olipop went awry: I was flooding my system with nine grams of prebiotic dietary fiber—the rough equivalent of two medium apples or a cup of lima beans—in one can. And that’s in addition to the carbonation and stevia, a natural sugar substitute that’s been linked to GI distress in some people. Gilbert says that people with “low gut microbial diversity” may experience discomfort for two to three weeks after boosting the amount of prebiotics in their diet. “But eventually your gut microbiome will increase in diversity,” he says, “as you are now feeding [the probiotics] the fiber they need.”
But honestly, two to three weeks? The thought of cracking the pull tab on another Olipop was enough to make my microbiome quiver. And I was beginning to question whether any of these “gut healthy” packaged products actually deliver on any of their many promises.
Oversight: The Missing Ingredient
IN MAY, A California customer named Kristin Cobbs alleged that Poppi’s labeling is false advertising: deceptive, untruthful, and in violation of consumer protection laws. Her lawsuit states that she purchased Poppi soda because it claimed to provide “prebiotics for a healthy gut” but found that the two grams of prebiotic fiber per can were not enough for “gut health” in a meaningful way.
To reap the microbiota benefits, the suit suggests, she’d have to drink at least four cans daily, which would lead her to ingest, at five grams per can, “harmful levels of cane sugar.” (Poppi representatives declined to be interviewed for this article but shared a statement via email: “We cannot further comment on the matters related to the current litigation. We’re vigorously defending against the recent lawsuit, because it misrepresents our products and the science that supports our claims.”)
It’s a wonder the suit didn’t take a bigger swing. The company’s penchant for overreaching health claims goes back to 2018, when its cofounders, a then-pregnant Allison Ellsworth and her husband, Stephen, appeared on Shark Tank with an earlier iteration of their product. On that program, where they were turned down by all the investors save for Rohan Oza, the couple mentioned the scientifically unfounded claim that drinking apple cider vinegar, a key ingredient in Poppi, could help people “detox and lose weight.”
The Ellsworths remain a marketing presence on the company’s TikTok grid: strutting through grocery store aisles, posing at a Coachella pop-up, announcing a Chipotle rollout by performing something the kids call the Charli XCX “Apple” dance. Poppi’s prom king and queen don’t have a background in nutrition—they’re former oil and gas researchers. Yet in January 2021, in one TikTok video that went viral, Allison touted Poppi’s prebiotic formula, saying it “helps with boosting your immunity” and produces “glowing skin,” claims that are also scientifically unfounded.
But Poppi—and any other packaged food or drink marketed for gut health, for that matter—has “an incredible amount of leeway” without FDA interference, Dow says. That’s because the prebiotic and/or probiotic slant of these products classifies them as dietary supplements, which the FDA regulates differently than it does conventional foods and drugs. “Something as vague as ‘supports digestive health’ can mean whatever you want it to mean,” Dow adds.
The FDA may intervene if a business repeats a specific, exaggerated claim, especially that a product can treat, cure, or prevent a disease. But the FDA doesn’t clear supplement claims before a product hits the market, so consumers like Cobb are left to (try to) hold companies accountable. But litigation isn’t exactly oversight, either. “We’ve seen lawsuits about demonstrably safe and beneficial things,” says Love. “It’s a little bit of a slippery slope. Lawsuits are not scientific evidence.”
Some brands may justify their claims using third-party corroboration. In an emailed statement to Men’s Health, Olipop CEO Ben Goodwin said his company’s soda is the first to gain the NutraStrong Prebiotic Verified Product Certification, which ensures, based on independent testing, that what’s on the can’s label is actually inside the can. (Dow points out that the certification stops short of checking the accuracy of any prebiotic claims. “As far as being a consumer, I wouldn’t put too much stock in that certification,” she says.)
If all of this feels head-spinning, just know that this third-party certification stuff doesn’t apply to actual food. What’s in an apple is simply apple. Health experts agree that taking care of your microbiome is important—and that your diet does play a role, though more likely through real food. Luckily, the best method for cultivating a strong and happy gut is actually pretty simple, if a challenge to do consistently.
Gut Check
WHILE THE SCIENCE around diet and probiotics develops, consumers aren’t wrong to include more prebiotics in their diet. The general recommendation is to eat 30 grams of fiber a day; most Americans hit only 10 to 15. Researchers know fiber is really good for us: The nutrient is important for general GI function, stool regularity (mine is back to normal, thank goodness), and cardiovascular health.
But most prebiotic fiber should come from whole foods, not packaged products, says Brian St. Pierre, R.D., C.S.C.S., a Men’s Health nutrition advisor. We “hitch our wagon to these hyped-up items,” St. Pierre says, which drives attention away from the larger goal. “People like to skip ahead to those fun things because they’re cool and compelling. Eating fruits and vegetables might be boring, but it’s the stuff that actually moves the needle long-term.” So yes, a low-calorie soda with prebiotic fiber is better than a high-calorie soda with no fiber. But neither comes close to a pear, which is also low calorie and has prebiotic fiber—and a payload of vitamins, minerals, and disease-fighting antioxidants.
That’s not to say you can’t have a “functional beverage” or a birthday-cake bar crawling with probiotics. “It’s not this binary good or bad,” St. Pierre says. He advises taking a continuum approach, in which some things can be consumed every day (plain water, plain seltzer, plain tea, black coffee) and others once in a while (snack packs with live active cultures). Gilbert says his teenage children drink Olipop, and he argues that two cans a day pushes their fiber up to 18 grams, which supplements what they get through whole foods.
But Dow says there’s another important thing that makes up a healthy diet: skepticism. Especially toward health-haloed products with splashy packaging and marketing. “Things are usually cyclical in health, [but] gut health has been big for a while,” she says. “I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon.” In fact, Dow thinks the next trend in gut-health products will focus on postbiotics. If probiotics are the bacteria and prebiotics are their food, postbiotics are the waste products after they’ve eaten—including those short-chain fatty acids that could benefit immune system function. “It’s essentially like taking out the middleman,” she says. “Let’s not make your gut microbes do anything. We’ll just give it to you.”
Perhaps in a soda?
What Your Gut Bacteria Crave
THE LITTLE BUGGERS want variety, early science shows. So focus on the “four F’s,” says Chris Damman, M.D., an associate professor of gastroenterology and medicine at University of Washington Medicine.
FIBER
Your gut bacteria feast on the stuff. You’ll find fiber in fruits and vegetables, but also in whole grains, including breads, pasta, rice, and oats. It’s in all kinds of beans and nuts, too—especially almonds.
FERMENTED FOODS
Yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, brined pickles—their natural probiotics, and the nutrients generated by microbial fermentation, will stimulate your immune system and help existing bacteria do their jobs better.
HEALTHY FATS
Your gut bacteria may actually transform some fats into more beneficial bioactive molecules. A diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids (found in avocados, nuts, salmon, etc.) also promotes better health overall.
PHENOLS (yes, this is a phonetic F)
These compounds are what give blueberries, red cabbage, and purple carrots their distinctive hues. Polyphenols are potent antioxidants, which are good for your metabolic, immune, and brain health and promote a good gut environment for your bacteria.
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