“Functional beverages” are popular among health-conscious consumers these days.1 They’re a category of mass-produced drinks that, aside from being tasty, have supposed health benefits. One of the biggest companies in this market is Poppi, which claims that their products can benefit gut health.
However, one discerning shopper was able to see through the misleading advertisements perpetuated by Poppi. A lawsuit was filed in the state of California, stating that the Poppi sodas do not provide the benefits they advertised.
Poppi Sued for Misleading Health Claims
On May 29, 2024, Kristin Cobbs from San Francisco, California, filed a lawsuit2 against Poppi. For those unfamiliar, this company began as a local seller of apple cider vinegar soda, and reached mainstream audiences due to an appearance in the show “Shark Tank.” After a successful sales pitch on the show, its products appeared nationwide in large grocery chains.
Here’s the crux of the lawsuit: Poppi claims that their products are “gut healthy” due to the inclusion of prebiotics, a type of dietary fiber. It also bills itself as a healthier soda alternative, as it contains just 5 grams of sugar, apple cider vinegar, and has less than 25 calories per can.3 Thanks to its slogan “Be Gut Happy. Be Gut Healthy”4 and the influence of celebrities, Poppi’s sales have reached more than $100 million and is expected to grow further.5
However, the lawsuit claims that Poppi’s sodas do not meet the requirements to produce a noticeable health benefit. According to a report from the Associated Press, the sodas contain very little inulin, which is sourced from agave. According to Cobbs’ attorneys:6
“Defendant’s [Poppi] success is largely owed to its ability to preserve the flavor and sweetness of traditional sodas while claiming to be ‘gut healthy’ due to its inclusion of ‘prebiotics’ — a specific type of dietary fiber commonly found in food like bananas and whole grains.
However, Defendant’s Poppi soda only contains 2 grams of prebiotic fiber, an amount too low to cause meaningful gut health benefits for the consumer from just one can.
Accordingly, a consumer would need to drink more than four Poppi sodas in a day to realize any potential health benefits from its prebiotic fiber. However, even if a consumer were to do this, Poppi’s high sugar content would offset most, if not all, of these purported gut health benefits.”
A Primer on Fiber
Dietary fiber is a carbohydrate found in fruits and vegetables that your body can’t digest. It’s essential for digestive health, and many studies support this hypothesis. In one study,7 dietary fiber was shown to help improve gut motility and alleviate constipation. Dietary fiber also helps increase satiety, which can help reduce excess food consumption thereby contributing to weight loss.8
Perhaps one of the most important benefits of dietary fiber is its effect on your gut microbiota. According to a study9 published in Cell, not getting enough fiber can cause changes to your gut microbiota, as the probiotics will start looking for other sources of nourishment, which compromises your gut lining. Here’s what they discovered:
“[D]uring chronic or intermittent dietary fiber deficiency, the gut microbiota resorts to host-secreted mucus glycoproteins as a nutrient source, leading to erosion of the colonic mucus barrier. Dietary fiber deprivation, together with a fiber-deprived, mucus-eroding microbiota, promotes greater epithelial access and lethal colitis by the mucosal pathogen, Citrobacter rodentium.”
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Health states that the ideal fiber intake is anywhere between 25 and 30 grams per day from diverse plant sources.10 But in the lawsuit, the attorneys argue that Poppi’s products are infused with just 2.5 grams of inulin from agave.11
For context, prebiotic fiber acts as nourishment for the microbiota already living in your gut. Research has shown that it can help boost the immune function by proliferating the population of pathogen-fighting probiotics.12 Moreover, Cobbs contends Poppi’s inulin have led to gastrointestinal discomfort. Why is this the case? In an article13 published in The New York Times, nutrition professor Hannah Hoschler, Ph.D. provides an explanation:
“Inulin fiber, which is used in prebiotic sodas, can cause digestive discomfort … As little as 1 to 5 grams can cause mild flatulence, for instance, and larger doses may lead to bloating. Some people ‘can’t even look at a food product that contains inulin without getting gas and bloating, while others may experience no symptoms.”
Three Factors Why Fiber Causes Gastrointestinal Issues
If you’re suffering from frequent bloating after trying to add fiber to your diet, it could be because your digestive system isn’t functioning properly, and likely has too much oxygen in the intestines.
Your gut microbiome functions optimally in an oxygen-free environment. If there’s too much oxygen in your gut, the beneficial oxygen-intolerant bacteria begin to suffer. Simultaneously, an oxygen-rich environment allows pathogenic bacteria in the gut to thrive, thus creating an imbalance. When harmful bacteria outnumber your good bacteria, they leave behind endotoxins, which are waste products that can impair mitochondrial function.14
As such, it’s important to address your mitochondrial health and cellular energy production to improve your gut health, starting by avoiding these three culprits:
• Linoleic acid (LA) — LA, found in seed oils, tree nuts and most processed foods, is one of the most pernicious toxins in the Western diet. When consumed in excess, it makes your cell membranes more susceptible to oxidative stress, thus altering mitochondrial function and reducing energy production. Ideally, keep your LA intake below 5 grams per day, though 2 grams per day would be even better.
• Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) — Exposure to EMFs activates the voltage-gated calcium channels in your cells, which increases intracellular calcium. When this occurs, cascading events follow, leading to cellular damage and impaired mitochondrial function. For strategies to help you avoid EMFs, visit my article “Reduce Your EMF Exposure.”
• Estrogen — Similar to EMFs, estrogen increases intracellular calcium, which causes a rise in nitric oxide and superoxide, leading to peroxynitrite production that increases oxidative stress. Furthermore, estrogen increases the presence of free radicals in your body, contributing to impaired energy production.
Setting Up a Strong Foundation for Your Gut
Now that you know why simply loading up on fiber won’t do you any good, the logical step is creating a strong foundation, beginning with repairing gut health. Again, if you just add fiber without addressing the oxygen in your gut, you’re creating an environment where good bacteria can die off.
The first step is feeding your body the ideal energy it needs, which is glucose. If your gut health is compromised, I recommend you start with simple carbohydrates, as your body may not be able to tolerate complex carbohydrates right away.
The reason why it’s best to start with simple carbs is they’re easily digestible and absorbed by your body, giving your mitochondria a much-needed energy boost. I recommend starting with simple fruit juices (without pulp), then moving onto fruit juice with pulp, followed by whole, ripe in-season fruits as your gut adjusts.
Done properly, you’ll notice that your gut begins to heal, allowing you to introduce more complex carbohydrates in your diet. Found in fiber-rich foods such as vegetables, whole grains and legumes, complex carbohydrates are the next step to repairing gut health. But if they’re introduced too soon, pathogenic bacteria feed on them instead, nullifying your efforts.
Reintroducing Dietary Fiber Properly to Your Diet
Indeed, fiber is an essential component to optimal health. But as you’ve seen in the lawsuit against Poppi, getting it from one source (inulin) isn’t enough. Going back to Holscher’s interview for The New York Times,15 she says that diversifying your intake through whole foods is the best approach, as it contains different fibers. They also contain other nutrients that work together to promote gut health, not just inulin. According to the article:
“These foods also provide multiple types of fibers — not just one or two, as you might find in sodas or other products with supplemental fiber. ‘It’s these complex mixtures of different fibers that support lots of different microbes’ and general gut health,’ Dr. Holscher said.”
I would like to expound the recommendations mentioned above. I believe that a combination of soluble fiber and insoluble fiber is the ideal approach for a healthy digestive system, and you need both because they work differently.
Soluble fiber acts like a sponge, absorbing water to form a gel-like substance in your gut, slowing down digestion and helping you feel full longer. It also acts as a prebiotic to feed your microbiome. Meanwhile, insoluble fiber moves through your intestines, helping bulk up your stool and promoting regular bowel elimination. The table below lists foods with the highest ratios of each type of dietary fiber:
| Soluble-to-Insoluble Fiber | Insoluble-to-Soluble Fiber |
|---|---|
| Black beans | Well-cooked mushrooms, carrots and bamboo shoots |
| Chickpeas | Berries |
| Lentils | Shredded coconut meat |
| Kidney beans | Pineapples |
| Lima beans | Masa harina |
| Brussels sprouts | Dates |
| Avocados | Cocoa |
| Sweet potatoes | Guava |
| Figs | Persimmons |
| Apples | Kiwis |
| Pears | |
| Oranges | |
| Oats |
Additional Strategies Solutions to Help Restore Mitochondrial Function
Starting with simple carbohydrates, then moving onto complex carbohydrates aren’t the only strategies that can help repair your gut health and restore mitochondrial function. Here are additional tips you can implement:
- Add organic maple syrup raw honey and dextrose (dissolved in water) to your list of simple sugars, aside from fruit juice.
- Decrease lactate production and increase carbon dioxide (CO2) in your body, as they have opposing effects. To boost your CO2 levels, you can breathe into a small paper lunch bag a few times a day, as well as take CO2 baths. You can learn more about the crucial role of CO2 in my article “The Biology of Carbon Dioxide.”
- Reduce your stress, as chronic stress releases excess cortisol, a potent inhibitor of mitochondrial function and biogenesis. Progesterone can be quite helpful here, as it’s a potent cortisol blocker. You can learn more about the health benefits of progesterone, as well as dosing recommendations in my article “What You Need to Know About Estrogen and Serotonin.”
- Take supplemental niacinamide, as your mitochondria cannot make energy without it. I recommend taking 50 milligrams three times a day.
Aside from these strategies, it would be wise to incorporate prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics consistently in your daily diet to help enhance gut health and overall well-being.
Having a combination of all three is ideal, as they work together in unison. Prebiotics serve as nourishment for your gut microbiome, while probiotics already play their role in digestive health. Meanwhile, postbiotics are the active compounds made during the fermentation process in your gut, which offer health benefits.
For those unfamiliar with postbiotics, these are healthy byproducts produced left in your gut once prebiotics and postbiotics are digested. According to Harvard Health Publishing,16 examples of postbiotics include vitamin B, vitamin K, as well as antimicrobial peptides that help mitigate the growth of pathogenic bacteria.