“The human body does not need any of this stuff for the most part. We could all just be drinking water. But the beverage industry has figured out that if they invent new kinds of drinks, they can invent new reasons for us to not drink water and spend money on their beverages instead.”
Planet Money · Money & Markets · October 2026
Guo was reporting from a lab that develops drinks for new brands, on why there are suddenly so many beverages to choose from. This is his second reason: "functional" drinks that promise to help you relax, sleep or look after your gut. He adds that there isn't much evidence these drinks have noticeable health benefits.
Transcript
Here in Kristen's lab, we talked about the second explanation for why there's so many more beverage options now. And it has to do with all the new things that people are putting into beverages these days. Kristen says, in the beginning, most of Flavorman's clients were trying to make energy drinks. Caffeinated energy drinks with a hot new beverage category in the 90s and 90s. 2000s. My favorite, by the way, was Krunk, three exclamation points. But since then, you know, there's been the boom in seltzers, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. And now the hot thing is what the industry calls functional beverages. We want drinks that do something for us. You know, like the sodas that supposedly help you relax, maybe fall asleep, or the ones that say they support your gut health. On one of the lab benches, we spotted a big bag of powder that said gum acacia. So
prebiotics are really popular. Gum acacia is one of the most popular prebiotics for sodas like Olipop.
These new beverage types have been huge for the industry. They are one of the main reasons overall beverage sales have grown over the past decade. Think about it this way. The human body does not need any of this stuff for the most part. We could all just be drinking water. But the beverage industry has figured out that if they invent new kinds of drinks, they can invent new reasons for us to not drink water and spend money on their beverages instead. They convinced a lot of people to skip the water fountain at the gym to reach for a Gatorade. And now, maybe they want to replace the glass of water next to the bed with one of their new sleepy nighttime sodas. This is reason number two for all the new beverage choices. This strategy of inventing new beverage types has been incredibly profitable. People are buying more and drinking more, even if there's not that much evidence that these drinks actually have noticeable health benefits. Now, we were curious about the next generation of beverage concepts. So, Kristen, let us try some of the projects she and her team had been working on that week. There were a bunch of mocktails. Those are really big right now. One of them tasted exactly like an Aperol Spritz.
Oh, that is delightful.
There was a matcha-flavored liqueur, which is weird, but kind of delicious.
It's alcoholic? Yes.
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