The makers of Poppi soda are being sued for $5 million due to claims that the drinks don’t contain enough prebiotic fiber to cause significant health benefits.
The complaint alleges that the drink only contains two grams of prebiotic fiber, and any person drinking the product would have to drink “more than four sodas” to receive any benefits that the soda maker claims.
According to the lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California, “Poppi’s high sugar content would offset most, if not all, of these purported gut health benefits.”
The legal filing notes that although the brand claims it is promoting “gut health,” their drinks actually have a “harmful level of cane sugar,” alleging that the drinks are nothing more than “sugar water.” The lawsuit is targeting what the plaintiff calls “misleading marketing” around the product’s health benefits, taking issue with Poppi’s marketing campaign of “Be Gut Happy. Be Gut Healthy.”
The 24-page complaint further states that Poppi violated a California Civil Code “by affirmatively representing that the Product has prebiotic gut health benefits when it does not.”
The makers of Poppi responded to the lawsuit, saying that it is “baseless.”
“We believe the lawsuit is baseless, and we will vigorously defend against these allegations,” the soda maker told USA Today.
According to Poppi’s website, Poppi sodas contain agave inulin, apple cider vinegar and fruit juice. The drink is 25 calories or less, contains prebiotics, and contains 5 grams of sugar or less. For comparison of sugar content in other sodas around the same size (12 oz.), a can of Coke is roughly 39 grams of sugar and a can of Sprite is roughly 38 grams of sugar.
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Katherine Rodriguez can be reached at krodriguez@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips.
