By Elena Salvoni For Mailonline
Published: 17:40 EST, 2 January 2023 | Updated: 20:36 EST, 2 January 2023
A nutritionist has labelled KSI and Logan Paul's new sports drink Prime 'useless' and urged shoppers to buy multivitamins instead.
Last week, fans of the YouTubers rushed to Aldi stores across the UK to try the in-demand low-calorie drink - resulting in stampedes in various branches.
Prime has even been resold for huge markups online, with one bottle spotted on eBay at a staggering £50,000 - despite the drink only retailing in Aldi for £1.99.
The drink has been marketed as helping people to 'refresh, replenish, and refuel', but nutritional expert Robert Hobson has said it does little more for you than some off-the-shelf vitamins.
Prime, the new sports drink created by Youtubers Logan Paul (left) and KSI (right) has sent shoppers across the UK into a frenzy
Branding it 'useless', he told The Sun: 'I'm really not sure what all the fuss is about.
'For around 10p a day you could just take a multivitamin and mineral supplement to get almost everything that is in this drink.'
He said the branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) in the drink may help with recovery, depending on the type of sport the drinker might be taking part in.
However, he admitted he wasn't 'sure what use the drink' would be if the customer is already using protein shakes or fuelling themselves with high protein meals.
Prime has even been resold for huge markups online, with one bottle spotted on eBay at a staggering £50,000
While the drink has been compared to Red Bull or Lucozade by some industry insiders, it does not contain any caffeine - meaning it is not technically an energy drink.
In fact, the flavoured soft drink is mainly made up of water, as well as some coconut water and vitamins and minerals added in.
Robert said that the lack of caffeine means it is 'pretty much redundant as an energy drink', despite the high-octane marketing around it.
Urging customers not to get sucked in by the 'pretty packaging', he added: '[Caffeine is] usually used to support long bouts of exercise which means they need to supply you with energy in the form of glucose and fructose. '
Nutritionist Robert Hobson told the Sun that the lack of caffeine in Prime makes it 'pretty redundant' as a sports drink
KSI and Logan Paul, who have become multimillionaires through their YouTube channels, hit headlines in recent years for their boxing matches, through which they have promoted the drink around high profile celebrity fighting bouts in the UK.
Demand for the drinks is massively outpacing supply as youngsters try to emulate their social media heroes - with reports of children as young as 10 being intimidated and attacked by people who want to get their hands on them.
The drink launched by influencer boxers Logan Paul and KSI has been marketed as a healthy alternative to many energy drinks.
The vast majority of each 500ml bottle is filtered water, mixed with 10 per cent coconut water.
The latter is good source of minerals like potassium, magnesium, calcium and sodium important components of in heart, skeletal and muscle health.
Branding around Prime boasts it contains no added sugar and zero caffeine. Therefore it isn't really an energy drink.
Cans of energy drinks, and in particular their consumption by young people, have been controversial as some can contain more than 80g of sugar and have as much caffeine as three cups of coffee.
In comparison, Prime only has 2g of sugar per bottle, about 7 per cent of an adult's recommended intake. It instead gets its sweetness from a substances Sucralose and Acesulfame K.
These are both artificial sweeteners, a family of low-calorie chemicals used instead of sugar.
While there have been some health concerns about these substances, including fears that they could raise the risk of cancer, health authorities them say they are safe.
However, some studies have suggested sweeteners can stimulate appetite or alter the gut microbiome and therefore increase the risk of weight gain and obesity.
Other ingredients in Prime include a range of vitamins and Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs).
BCAAs helps muscles form and are taken by athletes and bodybuilders to help build up mass.
Prime also contains 113 per cent of the daily recommended intake of Vitamin A, 125 per cent of Vitamin E, 243 per cent of Vitamin B6 and 192 per cent of Vitamin B12.
While these vitamins form part of a healthy and balanced diet, too much of them can actually be harmful.
However, the quantities in Prime, while above the daily requirements, shouldn't be high enough to cause problems.
For example, Prime contains 3.4mg of Vitamin B6, which helps the body process food. Adults generally only need about 1.3mg of Vitamin B6 per day. The NHS says taking 200mg or Vitamin B6 per day can cause nerve problems.
Duane Mellor, a registered dietitian and researcher at Aston Medical School in Birmingham, told MailOnline: 'It seems to have a few more expensive ingredients than the average sports or energy drink in the form of branch chain amino acids.
'These have been claimed to improve exercise performance, recovery and building muscle.
'However, none of these claims have been accepted by regulators and should not be used when marketing products like this. It's interesting that it uses a potassium salt as most sports products used sodium as that can help absorption of water, glucose and amino acids.
'Although this products may contain some interesting sounding nutrients it is unlikely to offer any meaningful nutritional benefits.'
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