Michelle Obama has launched a new “healthy” soft drink for kids.
The former First Lady has been promoting PLEZi Fizz on TikTok, visiting a Costco store in Northern California to film a short reel.
“This is healthy. This is a healthy drink,” she says in the video. “Low-calorie, and it tastes good.” Michelle Obama is a co-founder of PLEZi Nutrition with actress Kristen Bell, famous for her role as Veronica Mars in the TV series of the same name and the Bad Moms movies.
According to its website, the brand aims to “raise a healthier generation of kids.” Obama says she was inspired by her own work in the White House, and so decided to found the new company.
“I’ve dedicated so much of my life to helping kids and families lead healthier lives,” the PLEZi Nutrition website states.
“As First Lady, I built my Let’s Move! Initiative to rally every sector of society towards this goal. We accomplished some big things during those years, but we’ve still got a long way to go when it comes to children’s health. There’s no mistaking that our country remains in a nutrition-related health crisis,” she said.
It’s undoubtedly true that soft drink consumption is linked to ill health, particularly obesity. A 2023 study of soft drink consumption in 107 countries worldwide showed a clear correlation between soft drink consumption and obesity. Another study of 75 countries showed that every one percent increase in soft drink consumption is associated with a 4.8 percent increase in overweight and obesity.
The company also promises to donate 10 percent of its profits to initiatives that “promote kids’ health.” All very noble so far.
But since this is Big Michelle Obama we’re talking about, things aren’t quite what they seem. PLEZi Fizz’s unique selling point isn’t that it contains different or better ingredients than traditional soft drinks. It doesn’t contain some hot new compound extracted from a rare Amazon fruit or even a decent helping of protein, like a glass of milk.
Instead, it simply contains less sugar per serving and fewer sweeteners, and somebody also decided to add some fiber and a tiny amount of potassium for good luck.
Although PLEZi Nutrition touts an expert “Kitchen Cabinet Advisory Committee,” made up of doctors and nutritionists, it’s hard to see what work they’ve actually done to formulate the drink.
Amusingly, as Bloomberg noted last year, PLEZi Nutrition doesn’t even qualify as “healthy” according to the criteria Michelle Obama promoted for school meals during her time as First Lady.
PLEZi Fizz is just more of the same, but since it’s got the Obama name on the label, that doesn’t matter. Liberals will rave about it—even if none of their kids drink it.
