Prime Hydration Drinks - What's Your Opinion?

You may have seen the much-hyped Prime drinks causing a frenzy recently.

With enormous queues forming early in the morning at stores announcing stock - Aldi very recently being in the press for crowds fighting over these drinks and adults even being seen pushing children out of the way to get their 3 maximum bottles - it's safe to say that the Prime hype is well and truly at an all-time high.

The big questions are; why, and what do YOU make of it all?

What are the Prime hydration drinks?

Prime is a sports drink promoted as "naturally flavoured beverages with 10% coconut water, BCAAs, antioxidants and electrolytes", available in lots of flavours. They contain zero sugar or caffeine which we think is important to highlight! It was released in the UK in October 2022 after success in the US. Founded by YouTubers Logan Paul and JJ Olatunji (known as KSI), the pair were previously better known for being boxing rivals. Their combined following on YouTube alone is over 40 million, contributing to the marketing success.

Earlier last week, Aldi announced via Twitter that they'd be stocking the bottles for £1.99 as part of a promotion on Thursday the 28th of December, noting that stock was limited and would be limited numbers of bottles per customer, depending on the store.

THIS IS NOT A DRILL 🚨 @PrimeHydrate will be in stores from tomorrow! You'll be able to grab one of each flavour while stocks last! @KSI meet you there? pic.twitter.com/rRZWvTVlVO
— Aldi Stores UK (@AldiUK) December 28, 2022

This tweet exploded, with a flurry of excited responses asking for specific times so that fans could queue up for their bottles! Many Aldi stores then became the scene of pushing and shoving in the clamour to grab a bottle of Prime - as the video below shows. Many bottles purchased at Aldi then ended up on eBay at hugely inflated prices. Warning - embedded video contains some colourful language.

Absolute carnage in Aldi… people trying to get hold of prime #aldi #prime pic.twitter.com/FgQbxQCQ0X
— Mark Hall 🔰 (@markbenhall) December 29, 2022

An Aldi spokesperson told the media;

"We're sorry that some customers were unable to get their hands on this product, however, demand has been extremely high. We limited purchases to one of each variant per customer so that as many customers as possible had a chance to buy it."

What our community says about Prime drinks...

Sharon, when asked the question in our community group, simply sent us a row of sheep emojis to share her thoughts on the craze!

Another community member, Rebekah, told us that she thinks that it's 'a pile of rubbish, the world has gone nuts'.

Sarah told us; 'They’re not the best and not worth the hype. They’re also not the devil like people make them out to be. They’re not actually even an energy drink. They’re a sports drink. We’ve got my 11 year old 3 bottles (husband was on his way back from a night shift and aldi had just opened so was lucky timing, we wouldn’t have been queuing for them haha) and he’s been told he can save them for when he’s back at football, we’d normally allow him a lucozade sport then so it’s no different really.'

Our take on Prime hydration drinks...

At first, we were perturbed - these drinks have been represented specifically as energy drinks by a number of platforms, which of course makes us think of caffeine, sugar, and other ingredients that children shouldn't have access to. Well, as it turns out, they're coconut water based hydration drinks, and not energy drinks!

Would you let your child drink some coconut water? We can't imagine that many of you would say no. These drinks have added vitamins and electrolytes, so really, in essence, they're just very expensive bottles of vitamin water that are making Logan Paul and KSI a LOT of money... However, concerns have been raised about the inclusion of dipotassium phosphate as an ingredient - it's a manmade food additive and preservative, with uncited and uncredited images going viral claiming that this additive can cause things such as dizziness, nausea and vomiting - there is no credible medical evidence in support of this, but it does seem odd that a drink marketed as 'naturally flavoured' actually contains lots of artificial additives, so it's important that parents are aware of this.

What also worries us is the sheer hype generated. Is social media THAT big an influence on children and teenagers that they become hyperfixated on a mere drink, to the point that they're queueing at Aldi at 6am and fighting for a bottle... because some YouTuber they like made the drink? It all seems bizarre and excessive, perhaps being a sign that social media is having too much influence on users - but this isn't anything new. The food additives causing concerns online are also present in many foods and drinks that our children probably already consume - if we find out any more health information on this, we will update you all.

Our take on it is that it's just another craze that will blow over, but it would be a great idea for parents to address any fixations with social media figures and channels, and for parents to be fully informed about all aspects of this drink. Contact your GP if you have any concerns!

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