Top Features Australians Want in a Probiotic Drink: A Smarter Way to Support Your Gut

When it comes to gut health, what you sip can make just as much of a difference as what you eat. Your gut is home to trillions of microbes that play a vital role in digestion, immunity and overall wellbeing. Choosing drinks that actively support your microbiome is a simple, everyday step toward feeling your best.

Why Your Drink Choice Matters for Gut Health

Many people assume that any “gut-friendly” drink will do the job — but the reality is more nuanced. It’s not just about drinking something with “probiotics” on the label, but about delivering the right viable bacteria to where they're needed (your gut), in a way they actually survive the journey.
According to our Research with Australians¹, 78% of Australians reported consuming soft drinks in the last 6 months — and 24.8% had taken any probiotic supplement or drink. Interestingly, 36% said they would prefer to take their probiotics in a drink. That shows there’s both a gap and a strong preference for convenient drink formats.
Soft drinks <- great for taste but often full of sugar and not doing your gut any favours. Probiotic drinks → the smarter alternative.

What Australians Look for in a Gut-Friendly Probiotic Drink

Here are the key criteria Australians¹ say matter most when choosing a probiotic drink:

• Convenience (easy to drink on the go)
• Taste (great flavours, refreshing)
• Brand trust & science support

From a gut-health perspective you should also check:

• Does it contain live, well-characterised probiotic strains?
• Can the bacteria survive stomach acid/bile and reach the gut?
• Is the dose meaningful (billions of CFUs) and has the product been designed for delivery rather than just being “probiotic added”?
• Is the sugar content low (you don’t want sugar undermining gut health)?

Fermented Drinks vs Probiotic Drinks: What’s the Difference?

Fermented drinks — such as kefir, kombucha, even traditional yoghurt drinks — can seem trendy and while they are manufactured to contain live microbes, there are some caveats:

• Research shows² types and counts of microbes vary greatly depending on processing, storage and strain.
• Many commercial fermented beverages don’t guarantee delivery of proven strains to the gut.
• Fermented drinks often have distinctive strong flavours (which some love, some don’t), and sometimes higher sugar to make them palatable. So while fermented drinks can play a role in gut-friendly lifestyle, if your goal is targeted delivery of probiotics to the gut, then you want something engineered for that exact job. That’s where micro-encapsulated probiotic drinks come in.

Why Micro-Encapsulation Probiotics Makes a Difference

This is the tech side — but don’t worry, we’ll keep it simple. Probiotics face a harsh journey: acidic stomach, bile salts, digestion processes. Without protection many never reach the gut alive.
Research shows that micro-encapsulation — where probiotic cells are trapped in a protective matrix — dramatically improves survival. Our research and other reviews³ noted that encapsulation is “proved to be the best way for the protection of probiotics … to ensure their stability … during processing, storage and at the site of action.”

So, when a drink says “targeted-release probiotic delivery to your gut” (which PERKii does) that’s not just marketing fluff — good science backs it. PERKii Probiotic science developed by the University of QLD shows it hat micro-shield Lactobacillus Casei probiotics have a survival rate of 10,000x or more when subjected to the pH 2.

So how does PERKii fit?

• Each bottle delivers billions of targeted-release probiotics that are scientifically designed to survive stomach acid and reach your gut alive (thanks to our micro-encapsulation technology).
• Refreshing options (still + sparkling), natural flavours, low sugar — ticking the boxes for taste and convenience.
• Backed by both consumer research and science

If you’re choosing “probiotic drinks for gut health”, PERKii gives you the performance + lifestyle combo.

Practical Tips for Making Probiotics Part of Your Routine

• Swap one sugary soft drink per day for a gut-friendly drink (e.g., PERKii) — you already have convenience, now upgrade the gut benefit.
• Drink plenty of water/hydration alongside, because hydration supports digestion and your microbiome.
• If you enjoy fermented drinks, keep them part of your routine — but don’t rely on them alone for targeted delivery unless the beverage specifies viable, well-characterised probiotic counts.
• Store probiotic drinks correctly (check label). Even with micro‐encapsulation, proper storage helps maintain viability.
• Consistency matters: Probiotics don’t give one-off miracles — they support over time. Make it a daily habit.
• Combine with fibre-rich foods like fresh fruit and vegetables (prebiotics) to “feed” your gut bacteria — but note: to get strong prebiotic benefit from drinks alone requires fairly high fibre loads, which can be harder in a drink format, so we recommend sticking to fresh fruit and vegetables for this.

Supporting your gut doesn’t need to be complicated — but it does mean being thoughtful. Start with the basics: stay hydrated, enjoy fibre-rich foods for prebiotics and make probiotics part of your daily routine.

When you’re choosing a probiotic drink, make sure it checks the “live strains + proven delivery to gut” box. Because no matter how tasty the bottle is, if the bacteria die in your stomach, you’re missing the point! With PERKii, you get a smarter, tastier way to care for your gut health — every single day.

¹Reference: Probiotic Food & Drink, Australia May 2023, n = 250.

² Reference: Synergy Between Probiotics & Fermented Foods Feb 2025

³ Reference: Microencapsulation of Probiotics 2023