Blog Post #3

For this week’s assignment, I will be creating an analysis of an article about the prebiotic soda brand, Poppi. I have heard about this brand of soda many times online and people have claimed that it is a healthier alternative to regular sodas. I am always looking for a product similar to soda, but one that does not have as much sugar and one that is gut friendly. I was curious about Poppi and wanted to read this article about the possible health claims. You can access the article here: Are Prebiotic and Probiotic Sodas Actually Healthy? I will be doing a step-by-step walkthrough of why I think this article is worth evaluating in terms of misinformation.

For this evaluation I will be using The “Sift” strategy. This is a process that involves four steps to recognize misinformation. “S” stands for “Stop”, “I” stands for investigate, “F” stands for finding more reliable coverage, and “T” stands for tracing the claim to its original context.

This article mentioned above is worth evaluating since it is not exactly a medical or nutritional piece of information. The author is also not a licensed nutritionist, so I will stop and reflect on this piece of information. If you are ever unsure about the reliability of information, it is best to always take some time to think and not believe something just because it is an online article.

Next, I will be using the second step, which is investigate. It turns out that the article was written by a freelance writer that covers health, beauty, culture, and style. I also found out the writer has a Master’s Degree in Public Health. This could add to some credibility to the source and the author may know what she is talking about. The article was published by “Real Simple”, which is a Dotdash Meredith Brand that employs many experienced journalists. I have never heard of this publisher, so I am not going to trust it just yet.

I will now use the third step of The “Sift approach, which is to find better coverage.

I did some more research and found another article on the health benefits of prebiotic sodas. Here is the link: Do Prebiotic Sodas Benefit Your Health? This source of information, however, claims that there is not enough evidence to support that prebiotic sodas are healthier than regular soft drinks. They also claim that there is not enough evidence that it actually supports gut health as well. This article has statements and claims made by actual licensed medical doctors. It is also on a medical organization website. This source is not exactly verifying the claim from the first article.

Lastly, I will trace the claim to its original context, which is trying to find out where the claim originally came from. The article from “Real Simple” does mention health claims in statements from nutritionists and The Dietary Guidelines for Americans. However, these statements could have been put there by anyone.

In conclusion, The “Real Simple” article is not a source that you can believe right away. It is very important to look at who wrote the article, what their background is, and where their sources of evidence came from. Misinformation is very common in today’s society, so everyone should take the time to evaluate sources very carefully.