Vita Pop, Pitbull’s “Vitamin Soda,” Lands in the US. The Front of the Can Says 5 Grams of Fiber. The Back Says 11 Grams of Added Sugar, 22% of a Day’s Worth
The European soda with Pitbull as Global Strategic Partner held its US launch in Kansas City on September 24 and sells itself on 5 grams of prebiotic fiber, 50 calories and “up to 70% less sugar.” We read the US Nutrition Facts panel on all four flavors: the fiber is real, the sugar comparison checks against a Coke, and the number the pitch leaves out is 11 grams of added sugar, 22 percent of the Daily Value. Here is the FDA math on “high fiber” and what 5 grams of Fibersol has actually been shown to do.
Vita Pop's US cans list 50 calories, 5 g fiber (18% DV), 11 g added sugar (22% DV) and four B vitamins at 100% each. The FDA's "high" claim needs 20% of the DV (5.6 g), so 5 g is a "good source" by the rule's arithmetic; the can says "5G FIBER" while the website icon says "HIGH FIBER." "70% less sugar" checks against Coca-Cola's own 39 g can (11 g = 72% less). The fiber is Fibersol (resistant maltodextrin); most trials used 7.5-50 g/day, and the only can-sized data set (3.8-13.5 g/day) is a Matsutani-funded meta-analysis showing more stool volume and frequency vs placebo.
Vita Pop, the European “vitamin soda” that counts Pitbull as its Global Strategic Partner, threw its US launch party on September 24 at Kansas City’s Rock Island Bridge, and its American distributor, Liberty Beverage, put out the release the next day. The pitch, in the release’s words: “five grams of prebiotic fiber, approximately 50 calories and up to 70% less sugar than traditional soft drinks, without artificial sweeteners,” plus vitamins B3, B6, B7 and B12. The brand’s home page runs a row of icons underneath: REAL FLAVOR, VITAMINS, NON-GMO, HIGH FIBER, VEGAN. “Now? It’s America’s turn.”
We read the US can, all four flavors. The Nutrition Facts panel says 50 calories, 5 grams of fiber at 18 percent of the Daily Value, four B vitamins at exactly 100 percent each, and 11 grams of added sugar at 22 percent of the Daily Value. The front of the can prints the 5 in a starburst. The back prints the 11. Both numbers are the company’s own, both are accurate, and only one of them is in the pitch. Pitbull says the partnership is about “flavor, culture, music and health.” The label is where the last of those gets specific.
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The labelWhat the US can says
Vita Pop sells online through its own store, and each flavor page shows the back of the can. Serving size is one 12-ounce can. Every flavor lists 50 calories, no fat, no sodium, no protein, 15 or 16 grams of carbohydrate, 5 grams of dietary fiber, and 11 grams of added sugar (Lemon Lime shows 12 grams of total sugars). The vitamin lines read niacin 16 mg, vitamin B6 1.7 mg, biotin 30 mcg and vitamin B12 2.4 mcg, which are, to the decimal, the FDA’s Daily Values for those four nutrients. Raspberry contains 7 percent juice; the other three contain 1 percent.
The Raspberry ingredient list, in order: carbonated water, cane sugar, maltodextrin (Fibersol®), apple juice concentrate, vegetable juice for color, citric acid, raspberry juice concentrate, natural flavor, stevia leaf extract, then the four vitamins. Ingredients are listed by weight, so cane sugar outweighing the fiber ingredient is exactly what 11 grams against 5 looks like. “No artificial sweeteners” holds: the sweetness is cane sugar plus stevia. The rim of the can reads FUNCTIONAL, VITAMINS, NON-GMO, TRUE SODA TASTE, 5G FIBER and VEGAN; the starburst says PREBIOTIC 5G FIBER. A 12-pack costs $25.99 on the brand’s store, about $2.17 a can by our arithmetic, or $20.79 on subscription.
| Per 12 fl oz can | Raspberry | Lemon Lime | Mango Passion | Strawberry Lemon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| Sodium | 0 mg | 0 mg | 0 mg | 0 mg |
| Total carbohydrate | 16 g | 16 g | 16 g | 15 g |
| Dietary fiber | 5 g (18% DV) | 5 g (18% DV) | 5 g (18% DV) | 5 g (18% DV) |
| Total sugars | 11 g | 12 g | 11 g | 11 g |
| Added sugars | 11 g (22% DV) | 11 g (22% DV) | 11 g (22% DV) | 11 g (22% DV) |
| Niacin / B6 / biotin / B12 | 100% DV each | 100% DV each | 100% DV each | 100% DV each |
| Juice content | 7% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Fiber source | Maltodextrin (Fibersol®), listed third after carbonated water and cane sugar | |||
| Price, 12-pack | $25.99 one-time (“Tax included”), $20.79 on subscription; about $2.17 a can | |||
The arithmeticFive grams, 18 percent, and the word “high”
The Daily Value for fiber is 28 grams. Five divided by 28 is 17.9 percent, which the panel rounds to 18. The FDA’s rule on nutrient claims says the words “high,” “rich in” or “excellent source of” may be used when a food “contains 20 percent or more” of the Daily Value per reference amount, and “good source,” “contains” or “provides” when it contains 10 to 19 percent. Twenty percent of 28 grams is 5.6 grams. At 5 grams, a can sits inside the “good source” band, two points short of the “high” one. The can itself does not use the word high; it says 5G FIBER, which is simply true. The HIGH FIBER icon lives on the website. Whether a website icon counts as labeling, and whether it meets the definition, is a question for the company and the FDA. The math is above.
The same panel does the sugar math for you. The Daily Value for added sugars is 50 grams, which the FDA describes as “based on a 2,000 calorie daily diet,” and 11 grams is 22 percent of it. Two cans is 44 percent.
The sugarWhat “70% less” is measured against
The comparison checks. Coca-Cola’s own product page lists a 12-ounce can of the original at 39 grams of sugar, all of it added, and 140 calories. Eleven grams is 72 percent less than 39, so “up to 70% less sugar than traditional soft drinks” is fair against the drink most people picture. It is also 11 grams of added sugar, more than the cans beside it: in our read of Trader Joe’s prebiotic soda last week, the Trader Joe’s can carried 2 grams of added sugar and Olipop’s refrigerated Crisp Apple 1 gram, at the same 5 and 9 grams of fiber.
The federal advice has hardened since the last edition. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030 no longer frames added sugar as a percentage to stay under: “Added sugars are not part of eating real foods and are not recommended,” its FAQ says, and it lists “sugar-sweetened beverages, such as sodas” among the foods it now advises Americans to avoid. Where a 50-calorie soda with 11 grams belongs on that spectrum is a judgment for the person holding the can. The number to make it with is 11.
The fiberWhat Fibersol is, and what 5 grams has been shown to do
Fibersol is ADM and Matsutani’s brand of digestion-resistant maltodextrin, made from corn starch; the maker says it may be labeled as “resistant maltodextrin,” “soluble corn fiber” or, as here, simply “maltodextrin.” It counts as fiber by the book. The FDA’s June 2018 guidance named resistant maltodextrin/dextrin among eight non-digestible carbohydrates it intends to add to the legal definition of dietary fiber, and its science review records the citizen petition Archer Daniels Midland filed for Fibersol to get it there. The brand’s product page calls it “prebiotic fiber backed by over 30 years of clinical research.” The question is the dose that research used.
Mostly more than a can. In a 2018 University of Florida crossover trial with an ADM/Matsutani co-author, 51 healthy adults took 0, 15 or 25 grams a day for three weeks; only the 25-gram dose raised bifidobacteria compared with none, and only 25 grams raised stool weight, from 121 to 150 grams a day. A USDA feeding study with Matsutani co-authors gave 14 men 25 and 50 grams; both doses added to stool weight. An Illinois trial of Matsutani’s Fibersol-2 tested 7.5 and 15 grams for three weeks and reported that bifidobacteria “tended to” rise (the difference did not reach significance) with “very minor effects in gastrointestinal tolerance.” A Matsutani-funded Spanish trial gave 15 grams a day for 21 days to adults without a daily bowel habit and measured a 13-hour drop in colon transit time and a 56 percent rise in stool volume.
The front of the can prints 5 grams. The back prints 11. Both are the company’s numbers, and the label is the only place the second one appears.
The one data set at can-sized doses comes from the maker. A 2018 systematic review and meta-analysis, conducted and funded by Matsutani with a company employee among its authors, pooled 29 randomized trials, most of them Japanese, at intakes of 3.8 to 13.5 grams a day, and found that resistant maltodextrin increased stool volume and stool frequency compared with placebo. So there is support for a modest regularity effect around 5 grams a day, with the caveat that it comes from the ingredient’s seller; the bifidobacteria result in the Florida trial needed five cans’ worth. Comfort is the easier call: Matsutani’s own single-dose study found no diarrhea in ten adults up to 1 gram per kilogram of body weight, about 70 grams for a 70-kilogram person. For people with IBS, a 2019 King’s College London meta-analysis found that prebiotics at 6 grams a day or less improved flatulence and that non-inulin types, which resistant maltodextrin is, were the better tolerated, although prebiotics did not improve overall symptoms. Anyone managing IBS with a clinician may still want to raise a daily fiber soda with them.
The fieldWhere a can of Vita Pop lands
On fiber, Vita Pop sits in the middle of the category we mapped in our prebiotic-soda explainer: Poppi lists 3 grams, Olipop’s refrigerated line 9, and Trader Joe’s new can 5, the same as Vita Pop but from agave inulin, a fructan that produces gas at far lower doses in the tolerance studies. USDA’s latest survey puts the average American adult at 16.3 grams of fiber a day, so a can is roughly 30 percent of a typical day’s intake. On vitamins, the four B lines are set at the Daily Value, not above it. On sugar, it is the highest-sugar can in the group.
The short version: a genuine soda in a colorful can, with 5 grams of a well-documented and well-tolerated fiber at a dose the maker’s own meta-analysis supports for regularity, four B vitamins at exactly 100 percent, and 11 grams of added sugar, a fifth of the day’s allowance, that the front of the can leaves for the back to tell you. Vita Pop, Liberty Beverage and Pitbull had no involvement in this article. It is educational, describes what the cited labels, regulations and studies say, and is not medical advice.