Why This “Gut Healthy” Soda Got Sued

Author's Bio: Ashley Oswald, RDN, IFNCP, CLT, LD

What if I told you that the soda you bought to improve your gut health was actually at the center of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit?

In May of 2024, a class-action lawsuit was filed alleging that Poppi's ingredients were insufficient to support its advertised gut-health benefits.

Have you heard of Poppi?

It’s colorful, comes in fun flavors, and I will give them credit for re-branding themselves after this lawsuit.

They’ve stopped emphasizing themselves as a gut-healthy soda, and instead are marketing themselves as a healthier soda alternative.

But, what bothers me is that despite having to pay out 8.9 million dollars in 2025 due to their gut-health marketing being misleading, they never did actually admit wrongdoing.

[Video Transcript Below Video - it is the same information]

So let me talk you through the 3 main ingredients that Poppi was promoting as gut healthy in their marketing.

And at the end of this video, I’d like you to tell me in the comments if you do think they should have paid out the 8.9 million dollars, or if you agree with Poppi in the fact that they never did anything wrong.

1. Apple Cider Vinegar

So number one: let’s start with the apple cider vinegar.

And before you come after me, yes, I do know that Apple Cider Vinegar CAN and HAS helped some people to improve their gut health.

BUT it can and also has made gut issues worse for other people because it can delay stomach emptying, otherwise known as gastric emptying.

Now, Poppi was founded because the owner was one of those people who found benefit using 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar a day for her gut health.

However, she also made several other changes to improve her gut health as well.

Feeling better after just 2 weeks is not enough time to support a claim that something works, especially for women, because hormones can impact gut health also, which of course change over the course of a month, and even month to month.

I’m not saying that this is what happened to her, but I wanted to share this component to give you some perspective as to why we can’t say that something works after just 2 weeks of a trial in one person.

This is why we rely on double-blinded placebo-controlled trials to get more solid evidence of interventions.

Further, after these 2 weeks, the owner went on to do a food elimination diet to further try to figure out the cause of her gut issues.

And one of the items she eliminated, ironically, is sugar! And yes, Poppi DOES contain sugar, which is why I say it is ironic. But more on that later.

So Poppi was created based off of this 2-week experiment, despite us having no research to back up the claim of apple cider vinegar being a proven intervention to improve gut issues.

While actually, we have research to show the opposite.

Okay, I’m not against it. With medicine, we must always weigh the potential benefits to the potential risks.

But when creating a product and using marketing language in the way that Poppi did, over something that is not research-based… it really does become problematic.

It can become a slippery slope if we allow products on the market to advertise in a fun and sexy way, something that is not grounded in science.

It makes it very confusing for consumers. And if you are not well educated in the gut health space, it’s really not fair for you to have to extensively research every food before you buy it.

You should be able to trust what is on the package and label.

Does Apple Cider Vinegar Actually Provide Prebiotic Fiber?

Now, because Poppi was unable to win the trial on the basis of apple cider vinegar due to the lack of research, they decided to try to win by stating that apple cider vinegar has prebiotic fiber in it to help gut health.

But here’s the thing. Fiber is, yes, very well researched for its benefits to gut health.

BUT, apple cider vinegar has almost NO prebiotic fiber. The amount in it is so small that when measured, it falls to 0 grams instead of 1 gram.

This is what I call a pixie dust ingredient.

Yes, sure, it’s there, but it’s in such a small amount that it’s basically of no use.

So let’s move on to the other high-fiber ingredient in the Poppi formulation.

2. Agave Inulin and Fiber Content

At this time of the lawsuit, Poppi did contain 2 grams of fiber from organic agave inulin, and after this lawsuit, it has increased its fiber now to 3 grams/can.

But do you know what the daily fiber recommendation is to support gut and overall health?

It’s 25-35 grams/day.

So 2-3 grams of prebiotic fiber in a can of soda that has 5 grams of sugar is, once again, basically pixie dust.

Why Fiber Matters for Gut Health

And do you want to know a cool fact about fiber and gut health, right from the research?

For every 10 gram increase in fiber a day, you decrease your risk of colon cancer by 10%!

And 95% of Americans are NOT eating the recommended 25-35 grams of fiber each day.

So when you hear about the increase in colon cancer rates, please try to not get alarmed, and instead use this information as fuel to your fire to increase your intake of real, whole, fiber-rich foods.

Now to get 10 grams of fiber from Poppi, you would need over 3 cans!

Which could actually hurt your gut health, because you would be getting 15 grams of sugar in those 3 cans, and we all know that sugar is not the best choice for gut health.

Getting Fiber From Whole Foods Instead

So on the flip side, to get 10 grams of fiber from food, you would simply need to eat:

• 2/3 cup of black beans or lentils

• 1 medium avocado

• 2 medium pears

• 3 tablespoons of chia seeds

• 2 cups of broccoli

• 1-1/4 cups of raspberries

• 2-1/2 cups of oatmeal

And the list goes on.

Plus, a bonus is that when you get your fiber from real, whole foods, you are also getting a more significant amount of micronutrients, which are so important for keeping your body functioning properly.

These include vitamins, minerals, and even the next Poppi ingredient that I will be talking about… polyphenols.

When High-Fiber Foods Cause Digestive Symptoms

But before we talk about what a polyphenol is and whether this was another pixie dust ingredient in Poppi, I want to let you know that we have had many clients schedule with our clinic due to them not being able to tolerate high-fiber foods.

They were getting excessive gas, bloating, and pain, and our clinic has been able to help them to improve their gut health, and once again, tolerate a variety of real, whole, high-fiber foods.

So if this is you, then you are more than welcome to schedule an appointment with our team of gut health dietitians and licensed nutritionists.

We have on average 7 years of formal schooling in nutrition science, and are all trained in holistic and functional medicine.

70% of our clients do get insurance coverage, or we have easy cash pay rates. You can read our testimonials on Google, and can easily schedule your first appointment using this link.

3. Polyphenols

Okay, so now let’s chat about polyphenols.

Polyphenols do, yes, have research to support gut health!

They can promote beneficial bacteria groups.

They can produce beneficial metabolites.

They can support the intestinal barrier.

And they can help to modulate chronic inflammation.

However, let me tell you how many polyphenols are in a can of Poppi soda.

And yes, you probably already guessed it. Not much.

Yes, this is another pixie dust ingredient.

One can of Poppi contains 6-15 milligrams of polyphenols from the apple cider vinegar, while for comparison, 1 cup of blueberries has 300-600 mg of polyphenols.

Wow.

So you can get 45 TIMES the amount of polyphenols by eating some blueberries, versus what you get from a single can of Poppi.

Remarkable, isn’t it?

Food truly is the best preventative medicine.

Polyphenols are also found in cocoa, green tea, apples, onions, coffee, walnuts, purple cabbage, and more.

It’s SO important that you understand how the dose can make the medicine, or it can make the poison, or it can simply do nothing.

Bonus Ingredient: Sugar

Now, I have a bonus ingredient to chat about with you.

And that is… SUGAR.

Of course, we can’t overlook this ironic ingredient in a product that was marketed as gut healthy.

Sure, it’s less sugar than a normal soda by far, but still, given the negligible functional ingredients, really, you are drinking a beverage that actually could debatably be BAD for gut health.

Yet, so MANY people still think they are paying a premium to HELP them with their gut health!

Now I will say, if you swap out regular soda for Poppi, then yes, this will be helping your gut health since you are significantly decreasing your sugar content.

However, it would be MUCH better for you to swap out Poppi for beverages with NO sugar.

You can slowly train your taste buds to prefer beverages such as unsweetened iced tea, hot tea, lemon water, carbonated flavored water with no added sugar, unsweetened coffee, and more.

Yes, one can of Poppi has just 5 grams of sugar, compared to the 35-45 grams of sugar in one can of most other sodas.

And the World Health Organization recommends less than 25 grams of sugar per day.

So one can of regular soda will put you over the daily recommendation, while Poppi keeps you well below it.

BUT, a simple recommendation is not necessarily the ideal for gut health.

We all know that added sugar is of little benefit, and the truth is, that less is better.

Is Poppi Actually a Healthy Soda for Gut Health?

So the question comes down to this:

If the fiber content in Poppi is only 3 grams, and you can easily get more fiber from whole, real foods that will provide you with OTHER nutrients of benefit too…

Like say 1 cup of blueberries, which not only has 45 TIMES the polyphenol content of one can of Poppi, but also more fiber than the 1 can of Poppi.

While 1 cup of cooked black beans has 5 times the amount of fiber as 1 can of Poppi.

And you would need to eat just 3/4 cup of cooked black beans to decrease your risk of colon cancer by 10%, while when it comes to Poppi, you would need to drink over 3 cans to get that same 10% decrease.

Which would, by the way, give you 15 grams of sugar, so could increase your risk of other chronic diseases.

This becomes a simple puzzle, doesn’t it?

Do you see now why Poppi had to pay out 8.9 million dollars?

And yet, despite this, they are still a very popular brand.

They’ve chilled on marketing themselves as gut healthy, and now focus their marketing on being a healthier soda option.

Which, to be fair, is TRUE.

But let’s always remember that this brand fooled a lot of people into thinking it’s very good for gut health.

And if they were able to recently fool this many people for this many years, you must always wonder… what is the new fake marketing product?

So keep your critical thinking hat on always, when looking at marketing, and always ask yourself:

• What ingredients does it actually contain?

• Is the amount meaningful for the benefit being claimed?

• And is there evidence that this particular product provides that benefit?

  
  

Now I’m curious. Let me know in the comments below if you can think of anything on the market right now that you believe might have misleading marketing, and let me know if you’d like me to make a video about it.

So with that said, thanks for watching. And as always, stay curious.

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