I Tried 7 Prebiotic & Probiotic Sodas and The Best Was Fruity and Not Too Sweet

The world of sodas has changed dramatically in the past few years. The refrigerator case at your average grocery store or convenience mart is now filled with colorful cans of fruit-flavored fizzy drinks that offer more nutritional benefits than your typical colas and root beers. In particular, new, alternative sodas have become a popular way for people to consume more pre- and probiotics for better gut health.

There are so many alternative soda options these days that it can be overwhelming to know which will taste the best and have the healthiest nutrient profile. To help cut through some of the confusion, I tested seven of the most popular pre- and probiotic sodas and sparkling waters.

What are probiotics?

Probiotics are living bacteria known to be beneficial to the human body. These microorganisms occur naturally in fermented foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, and even sourdough bread. In other cases, as with these carbonated drinks, probiotics are added to foods to increase their health benefits.

When you eat foods that contain probiotics, these healthy bacteria can populate and diversify your gastrointestinal system. They play a range of beneficial roles in the body, including helping with digestion, fighting infections, and even boosting your brain health.

 7 Probiotic Foods Scientifically Linked to Better Health

What are prebiotics?

Prebiotics are what keep those beneficial bacteria in your gut alive and thriving. They consist of dietary fiber that moves past your digestive system to your colon, where it ferments and serves as a food source for the microorganisms in your gut. As the bacteria break down prebiotics, they produce short-chain fatty acids that support your colon health and help your body reduce inflammation.

Consuming both pre- and probiotics can help improve your overall health, and these canned drinks can be a convenient way to increase the amount and diversity of healthy bacteria in your gut.

 What Are Prebiotics? Plus 10 Dietitian-Approved Ways to Get More

Prebiotic & Probiotic Sodas—Tasted & Ranked

To help you navigate the world of prebiotic and probiotic sodas, we tasted and reviewed seven popular options. Each drink was judged based on its look, taste, and overall impression. Read on to discover which sodas stood out and why.

Best Overall: Aqua ViTea Aqua Probiotic Seltzer

This juicy probiotic seltzer from Vermont-based Aqua ViTea gets its gut-healthy properties from a base of kombucha and billions of added probiotics from Bacillus Subtilis DE111. The fun flavors come from added flavorings, all of which are organic.

Flavors: Raspberry + Lime, Grapefruit + Thyme, Cucumber + Mint, Pomegranate + Cherry

The look: These drinks are bursting with bubbles and have a more translucent, muted color closer to seltzer water than kombucha.

The taste: This fizzy probiotic drink is highly carbonated and has a subtly sweet and fruity flavor with just one gram of sugar per can. My personal favorite flavor is Grapefruit + Thyme.

Overall thoughts: Aqua ViTea's Aqua Probiotic Seltzers are as easy to drink as regular sparkling water, but you get the added benefits of billions of live and active cultures. The fruity flavors are interesting but not weird; the thyme has a nice herbal undertone to the more assertive grapefruit flavor.

RELATED: I Drank Kombucha for 30 Days & Experienced 3 Life-Changing Benefits6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Runner-Up: Bear's Fruit Probiotic Sparkling Water

If you're a fan of flavored sparkling water and want a bit of a bump to your gut health with probiotics, you'll likely enjoy the light and not-too-sweet flavor of Bear's Fruit probiotic sparkling water. Instead of artificial sweeteners, or even sugar, these cans contain nothing more than carbonated water, fruit puree, fresh herbs, and live probiotics.

Flavors: Watermelon Mint, Mango Habanero, Strawberry Basil, Blackberry Sage

The look: The Watermelon Mint flavor is delightfully melon pink and bubbly.

The taste: Because Bear's Fruit doesn't use any artificial sweeteners, these probiotic sparkling waters are not sweet or syrupy. Each flavor of Bear's Fruit has a fun kick to it that sets it apart from your more expected flavors of sparkling water. Watermelon mint is summery and sophisticated, while Mango Habanero has just the slightest kick of heat to balance mango's sweetness. But note that the herb is not an afterthought–there's no missing the strong flavor of cool mint alongside the fruity watermelon juice in the Watermelon Mint can.

Overall thoughts: The fresh ingredients and use of real fruit to flavor and sweeten these fizzy drinks make them a winner in my book. Though I appreciate the creative flavors, I'd prefer that the mint, habanero, basil, and sage, play more of a background role to the fruit flavors in each can.

Best Prebiotic: Wildwonder Sparkling Drink

Wildwonder makes drinks containing both prebiotics and probiotics in unexpected flavors like Guava Rose, Peach Ginger, and Strawberry Passion. These drinks are for those who want a fruit-forward carbonated beverage. Each can contains 5 grams of fiber from inulin and Jerusalem artichoke plus live active cultures.

Flavors: Peach Ginger, Mango Gold, Strawberry Passion, Guava Rose

The look: Wildwonder is on the less effervescent side of the drinks in this taste test, and the Peach Ginger flavor has a golden orange color with some cloudiness to it.

The taste: The berries, tropical, and stone fruit flavors are bold and dominant in every can, and the drinks have a pronounced sweetness, thanks to the trio of agave nectar, fruit puree, and monk fruit. The monk fruit has an especially pronounced flavor that doesn't taste quite as natural as the drinks flavored with just fruit puree, like Bear's Fruit.

Overall thoughts: I found these to be a little too sweet for my taste, but if you want a fizzy drink that's closer to juice than soda, I'd recommend Wildwonder. The fiber and active cultures are an added bonus.

 25 Best & Worst Sodas on Grocery Shelves, According to Dietitians

Best Probiotic: Culture Pop Soda

Culture Pop Soda is a probiotic soda flavored and sweetened with fruit juice concentrate, rather than real or artificial sweeteners. The 8 grams of sugar in the Wild Berries flavor, for example, come from white grape, blackberry, blueberry, and lime juices. The drink also has a touch of sea salt that adds minerals and balances out some of the sweetness.

Flavors: Wild Berries & Lime, Strawberry & Rhubarb, Black Cherry, Watermelon & Lime, Lemon Lime, Orange Mango & Lime, Pink Grapefruit & Ginger, Ginger Lemon & Turmeric

The look: Culture Pop has less fizz than others in this test. It didn't produce a frothy head when poured into a glass. The drink is more transparent and the Wild Berries flavor has a pretty purple-blue hue.

The taste: This soda is dry-tasting, refreshing, and just slightly fizzy. The Wild Berries & Lime flavor has a juicy dark fruit taste, but I didn't pick up on much of a citrus flavor.

Overall thoughts: The flavor of Culture Pop Soda is far from understated. Each can packs a punch of sweet, fruity liquid that's more like carbonated juice than anything else. They'd be a probiotic-rich alternative to fruity soda.

We Also Tried

Olipop

Olipop is one of the pioneers of prebiotic drinks, and its bright and splashy cans are easy to find in most grocery and convenience stores. With classic flavors like Lemon-Lime and Vintage Cola, these drinks are designed for soda lovers who want a healthier alternative. Olipop is fortified with prebiotics from inulin, cassava root fiber, nopal cactus, and marshmallow root. Each can contains at least 9 grams of fiber, or nearly a third of the daily recommended intake for adults, according to the USDA. The drinks are flavored with juice concentrate and sweetened with stevia.

Flavors: Classic Grape, Peaches & Cream, Vintage Cola, Classic Root Beer, Cream Soda, Ginger Ale, Strawberry Vanilla, Cherry Cola, Orange Squeeze, Lemon Lime, Ginger Lemon, Doctor Goodwin, Watermelon Lime, Banana Cream, Cherry Vanilla, Tropical Punch

The look: The grape flavor has a pretty deep purple shade and a good amount of effervescence when poured into a glass.

The taste: In every can of Olipop I've tried, the fruit or soda flavor advertised is overpowered by stevia. The cans are appropriately fizzy–the bubbles are there, but not overly hard or uncomfortable to swallow, but stevia is the dominant taste.

Overall thoughts: If you're a fan of stevia looking for a lower-sugar, higher-fiber drink to satisfy your soda craving, Olipop may be what you're looking for.

 25 Healthy, Low-Sugar Soda Alternatives

SunSip

Kombucha giant Health-Ade recently launched SunSip, a probiotic soda in familiar flavors like Cherry Cola and Lemon Lime. These fizzy drinks are sweetened with real cane sugar and monk fruit juice concentrate, so each can contain 5 grams of sugar, plus 2 grams of fiber from inulin. They're not fortified with probiotics, but in addition to the 2 grams of prebiotic dietary fiber per can, the drinks also contain vitamins and minerals, including 10% of your daily recommended intake of vitamins C and B12, plus zinc.

Flavors: Lemon Lime, Raspberry Lemonade, Cherry Cola, Strawberry Vanilla, Root Beer

The look: Unlike your typical lemon-lime soda, SunSip Lemon Lime doesn't have a radioactive neon look. Rather, it's pale yellow and translucent with a moderate amount of carbonation.

The taste: Flavor-wise, these drinks taste the most similar to a traditional soda of any beverage in this test, likely because they're sweetened with real sugar. The Strawberry-Vanilla is quite tasty, though the Cherry Cola is likely to be a favorite among Coke drinkers. Still, it's impossible to overlook the unmistakable aftertaste of monk fruit.

Overall thoughts: With the classic soda flavors, it's easy to imagine SunSip replacing a soda habit. Though the flavor isn't a spot-on mimic of Sprite or Coke, these drinks are sweet and bubbly with significantly less sugar than your average can of soda with a touch of fiber for good measure.

Poppi

Poppi is another innovator in the fruity fizzy drink category with a small amount of prebiotic fiber. You won't find live active cultures in a can of Poppi, but it does contain apple cider vinegar, which may support overall health by helping to lower blood sugar.

Flavors: Strawberry Lemon, Orange Cream, Lemon Lime, Orange, Doc Pop, Ginger Lime, Raspberry Rose, Cherry Limeade, Grape, Classic Cola, Wild Berry, Watermelon, Root Beer

The look: I expected the strawberry lemon flavor to look more berry pink, but it turns out it has a golden color similar to ginger ale. This was the fizziest canned soda I sampled for this test.

The taste: The apple cider vinegar gives Poppi a pleasantly sharp note that's sophisticated-tasting but not too acidic. Any vinegary sharpness is counterbalanced by organic cane sugar and stevia. Despite being paired with natural cane sugar, I still found the stevia taste overpowering.

Overall thoughts: As someone who's not big on the flavor of stevia, it's hard for me to look past the lingering aftertaste of the artificial sweetener, so though these cans have some impressive nutritional facts, they're not my first choice if I'm looking for fiber or a tasty drink.