Cup o'Joe-The Poop on Poppi and Olipop

Fiber is good for you and sugar-filled sodas are bad. That’s what the scientific literature tells us. Enter the inventive marketers. Why not make sodas less bad, or even good? Just remove some sugar and add fiber. That is just what a number of companies are doing, with the makers of “Olipop” and “Poppi” leading the pack. Olipop advertises that it “made soda healthier and more delicious with plant fiber, prebiotics, botanicals and a touch of magic.” Not sure what sort of magic was needed to add prebiotics, in this case, inulin, a type of fiber, to fruit juice-flavoured water. Magic aside, prebiotics do have some potential benefit.
By now anyone who has not heard of the microbiome has been living an extremely sheltered life. The microbiome refers to the hundreds of species of bacteria that inhabit our body, mostly residing in our digestive tract. Some, the so-called probiotics (the term means favouring life) play a role in the way nutrients in food are absorbed and the way that fecal matter is eliminated. They even produce compounds in their poop that are absorbed into the body and modulate immune function.
Bacteria are living organisms and need food to survive. Fiber is the component of our food, chemically various complex carbohydrates, that we cannot digest, but bacteria can. Collectively the substances that serve as nutrients for beneficial bacteria are known as “prebiotics.” A classic example is inulin, a type of fiber that can be extracted from chicory root, Jerusalem artichoke or agave. Olipop also includes some “botanicals,” namely extracts of nopal cactus, marshmallow root, calendula flower and kudzu root that are of questionable significance, especially given that the amounts added are not known.
Prebiotics have been linked with “gut health,” a somewhat nebulous term that refers to reduced risk of irritable bowel syndrome, reduced bloating and flatulation, normal stool elimination, proper absorption of nutrients, and the furnishing of compounds such as short chain fatty acids that are involved in immune activity. The general recommendation is that maintenance of a healthy microbiome requires at least 25 grams of fiber a day. Olipop delivers about 9 grams, a reasonable contribution to the daily requirement. Poppi has only two, something that irritated a California woman who says this isn’t enough to provide any health benefits and has launched a class action lawsuit claiming she was deceived. However, Poppi, which scooted to fame after its inventors appeared on the popular TV show Shark Tank, does not claim to have any health benefits for inulin, or indeed for the apple cider vinegar it also contains. While some studies have shown some benefit of apple cider vinegar for weight loss and blood sugar control, the amount found in Poppi is not indicated.
The sugar content of these beverages is about 5 grams per serving, roughly one eight of that found in most sugar-sweetened soft drinks. With their low sugar content and their added fiber there is no doubt that these beverages are “healthier” than the regular soft drinks, although inulin can for some people present a bloating and flatulation problem. All in all, it is better to get our fiber from fruits, whole grains, vegetables and nuts, because in addition to fiber, these also provide a variety of vitamins, minerals and polyphenols with antioxidant activity. Eat an apple, (5 grams of fiber), a handful of nuts (7 grams of fiber) and half a cup of Fiber One cereal (13 grams), and you have exceeded what any “prebiotic beverage” provides.
One article about Olipop claims that “it is the healthy alternative to soda you’ve been searching for.” I have another candidate for that alternative. Water.