Healthy Soda? Probiotic Soda Drinks

By Serena Shim

These days, I have been focusing more on feeling good from the inside out. Kombucha, fancy alkaline water, and pressed juices are just some of the healthy alternative drinks that I’ve tried recently. After seeing influencers promote “healthy probiotic soda drinks,” I decided to see what they were all about. 

These soda drinks are filled with prebiotics and probiotics, both of which are great for your gut, immune system, and metabolism. Probiotics are “good” bacteria that play a vital role in balancing the bacteria in our digestive system, which is essential in preventing issues like constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, UTIs, and diarrhea. Prebiotics, on the other hand, are food for our good bacteria and pass through our digestive tract to the large intestine, which is where most of our beneficial bacteria are. They then get fermented and broken down by our gut bacteria into useful compounds that support our health. More research needs to be done on what amounts of probiotics work best on healthy people since each person is different, but there are so many different ways to get your regular dose, such as foods like yogurt and capsule supplements. 

As someone who enjoys fizzy drinks such as La Croix and San Pellegrino, I am really excited to try these probiotic sodas out. It is so cool that there are tasty soda drinks that can help incorporate more good bacteria into my gut and give me an extra boost. Not only that, but most of these drinks are also non-GMO, vegan, gluten free, paleo, and keto-friendly, and do not contain any artificial preservatives, sweeteners, colors, flavors, or ingredients. I can’t wait to get my hands on these drinks on warmer days when I will constantly be wanting to quench my thirst. 

Some probiotic drink brands to check out are Olipop, Poppi, and Culture Pop which can be ordered online and found at Whole Foods, Wegmans, and even Mom’s Organic Market right in Bryn Mawr!