Nexba Better Soda review
Here we will give a hands-on, taste-tested review of Nexba Better Soda - a low calorie, prebiotic soda. We’ll look into the benefits, ingredients, nutrition and flavour of this sugar-free drink.
For this review we have taste-tested the passionfruit version.
Nexba Better Soda is available widely in Australian supermarkets.
You might also be interested in reading our popular article on the best probiotics in Australia if you want to add more healthy microbes to your diet.
Pack of 4
Ingredients of Nexba Better Soda
Nexba Better Soda is a sugar-free, low-calorie soda which means that it largely relies on natural flavourings and sweeteners for taste.
Are sweeteners bad for you?
Regular readers will know that I don’t love sweeteners - whether they are natural or artificial. This is because artificial sweeteners have been shown to negatively affect gut microbe composition - and so it could be that natural sweeteners also have a negative affect on your gut. There are other potential side effects of these natural sweeteners (especially around signalling to your body that sugar is coming when it isn’t), but more research is needed.
In any case, I’d prefer to avoid sweeteners altogether to be on the safe side. This is a personal choice though and essentially a trade off between sugar (which is not good) and natural sweeteners (which may or may not be shown to be unhealthy in future).
Read more about the current research done on stevia and erythritol - the two most common natural sweeteners.
The specific ingredients are: purified sparkling water, corn fibre (prebiotics), Nexba GoodSweet® Blend (erythritol, stevia), citric acid, natural flavours, vitamin C and natural colours (lutein).
As you can see, there’s no actual passionfruit in this drink (eg juice, concentrate or puree), just natural flavouring.
To me this feels manufactured, but this is how they are able to create a drink with no sugar ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Our favourite gut health products in Australia
YourBiology Gut+ probiotic not only offers 10 strains of probiotics, but also includes two types of prebiotics, three digestive enzymes and vitamin D for gut health support. All this means it offers a lot more benefits for gut health and general health than most probiotic supplements do
FixBIOME is a natural and very evidence-based supplement which is specifically designed to get your gut back into good shape. Perfect for those who need a gut reset
YourBiology SuperGreens+ is a superfood and greens supplement which makes it very easy to get a huge amount of nutrition - vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fibre, polyphenols and more - in one glass. Great for supporting gut health, skin health, energy, mental clarity and immunity.
Read more about the best gut health products in Australia.
Benefits of Nexba Better Soda
This drink comes with some health benefits. It is not as beneficial as other gut health products like kombucha or kefir, but at the end of the day it’s a lot better than soft drink!
Prebiotics
Prebiotics are essentially fibres which promote the growth of beneficial microbes in the gut. This drink includes a prebiotic in the form of corn fibre. It has an impressive 4g of dietary fibre in each can.
Read more about the benefits of prebiotics.
Low in calories
This soda has zero sugar and only 4 calories per 100ml. For context, a typical, non-diet soft drink would have 10x that amount!
Vitamin C
Vitamin C boosts the immune system, aids iron absorption and supports skin and joint health.
It is also a strong antioxidant which helps your body fight off harmful free radicals and reduce inflammation.
Appearance
It has a very vibrant almost fluorescent yellow colour to it. It doesn’t scream ‘natural’ to me - more like something radioactive.
Texture
Because of the corn fibre it has a thick mouthfeel for a carbonated drink - which is not unpleasant or strange by the way.
Carbonation
It has a good level of carbonation slightly under what you’d expect from a soft drink. The burps don’t build up too much.
Flavour
The aroma is of sweet passionfruit and not particularly strong.
Like many Nexba products, the taste is quite sweet (a bit too sweet in my opinion). There’s a general sweet fruity flavour which I guess is sort of like passionfruit. However, there is very little acidity as a I was expecting in a passionfruit drink.
In summary, the taste if fine. It tastes like you would expect something to taste which claims to be passionfruit but doesn’t include any actual passionfruit - no depth of flavour, not entirely convincing and a little underwhelming.
Cost of Nexba Better Soda
You can buy a 4 pack of 330ml cans in Coles or Woolworths for $8.75. Note that you’ll find it warm on the shelves, not in the fridges.
Summary
3.75 stars out of 5.
A low-calorie drink with lots of fibre. The taste won’t win any awards and it’s not perfect, but at the end of the day it’s a much better choice than soft drink from a health perspective.
Pros
much better for you than soft drink
very low calories
contains prebiotics
added vitamin C
Cons
no real passionfruit ingredients
taste is fine, but has no real depth
contains natural sweeteners (if that bothers you)
Factors we consider in our ratings
The factors we consider when doing a review (and the weightings of each of these) may vary depending on the product we are testing, but here are the key general factors we consider when we settle on a rating for a product.
Health benefits
We find out how the product will be good for your health and outline the benefits for you in simple language. This often involves doing research so you don’t have to. We often link to scientific studies or articles summarising scientific findings so you can dig deeper if you want to.
Things detrimental to health
We want to highlight where a product might include something bad for your health - even if it might be good for you in another way. This could include such things as pointing out certain additives it contains or high sugar levels.
How it’s made
This will vary depending on the product, but we want to see a quality process for making it and quality ingredients. For example, we want to see a kombucha traditionally fermented with lots of different microbial strains and we want to see a yoghurt made with fresh milk and not milk powders.
Price
While we expect quality products to be more expensive, they still have to be priced within reason. On the other side of things, a product which is priced very competitively will get a ratings boost based on the value it provides.
Flavour
For some products flavour won’t be a factor (eg probiotic tablets), but for others, like yoghurt or kimchi, flavour is a key aspect because these products are made to be enjoyed as well as being healthy! We will try to be as subjective as possible and describe the flavour in detail so you can get an idea of whether you would like it or not.
Our favourite gut health products in Australia
YourBiology Gut+ probiotic not only offers 10 strains of probiotics, but also includes two types of prebiotics, three digestive enzymes and vitamin D for gut health support. All this means it offers a lot more benefits for gut health and general health than most probiotic supplements do
FixBIOME is a natural and very evidence-based supplement which is specifically designed to get your gut back into good shape. Perfect for those who need a gut reset
YourBiology SuperGreens+ is a superfood and greens supplement which makes it very easy to get a huge amount of nutrition - vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fibre, polyphenols and more - in one glass. Great for supporting gut health, skin health, energy, mental clarity and immunity.
Read more about the best gut health products in Australia.
Your reviewer
This article was reviewed by Travis, the founder of this website, long-time gut-health enthusiast, science nerd and passionate kombucha maker of over 10 years!
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