What is Prime Hydration, why are Australian teenagers going crazy for it, who are Logan Paul and KSI, and what are the potential health ramifications of a sports drink whose co-product has been banned from shelves?
Prime Hydration landed on Woolworths shelves in Perth over the weekend and social media and local news sites have been flooded with images of chaotic but non-violent teens (and quite a few mums and dads) queuing at supermarket doors on Sunday 26 March 2023 for their first taste of ‘must have’ drink.
Woolworths had to introduce a 5-bottle purchase limit in response to the demand experienced in other states, with similar scenes reported at UK supermarkets when Prime was released there in late 2022.
Twitter users report that BP stations have been charging as much as $20, and in a move reminiscent of ticket scalpers, enterprising children are even reselling them online for up to three times their retail value, including empty bottles which can be used for photos on social media.
The West Australian reported on Tuesday 26 March that two Perth primary schools had even taken steps to warn parents in writing that the new fad product would be banned.
Prime Hydration comes in five flavours — tropical punch, blue raspberry, orange, ice pop and lemon lime – and was to be sold through Woolworths, Coles, conveniences stores and supplement stores, but stocks are running low across the country with worldwide demand outpacing supply.
Nationally based supplement stores have been able to offer the drink online, and Prime has been incrementally making its way into Perth since the beginning of February, and reviews on Mr Supplement show that parents and grandparents have been under pressure to source the drink for children.
“It was awesome getting hold of Prime. My son had been wanting a bottle for a long time. He was so excited when he opened his present,” said Kym N.
“I brought them for my grandson he was very happy many thanks,” wrote Alexandra R.
While some reviewers loved the taste, others reported that the drink did not live up to the hype.
“Tastes gross, aftertaste even worse. Such an expensive product. Not worth the money. Would not purchase again,” said Melissa N.
“Cannot get used to the Tropical, it tastes like cough syrup,” wrote Cameron T, though in a win for pharmacists, another declared that “It was delicious, I wish I could get it every day, recommend buying it, my son loved it.”
Marketed as a sports drink, Prime Hydration is the result of a business venture between YouTube stars KSI (Olajide William Olatunji) and Logan Paul and is the official sport drink of UFC, as well as being Arsenal Football Club’s official hydration partner.
UK based KSI started out by uploading commentaries on the FIFA football video game series before starting to produce rap music, topping the UK albums chart in July 2021 with All Over the Place, which featured other top 10 singles and celebrities such as Craig David.
The 29-year-old now has more than 24 million subscribers to his channel, as well as more followers across other social media channels.
Logan Paul along with his younger brother, Jake Paul, is a US social media personality who used his massive following, accumulated on the now defunct Twitter platform Vine, to successfully launch a career as a WWE wrestler in 2022, as well as a host of side projects – including his own failed cryptocurrency.
The 27-year-old former all-star high-school footballer made Forbes list for the highest paid YouTubers in 2017, 2018 and 2021 – missing out in 2109 with just $10 million – and in 2022 was estimated to be worth USD $45 million, thanks to a reported income of $150,000 per Facebook post and $80,000 for each post on Instagram for one of his sponsors, who include Nike and HBO.
The pair – who have over 40 million YouTube followers between them – have claimed that Prime’s different flavours aid hydration.
Yet according to dietitian and sports nutritionist Dr Linia Patel, who spoke with the BBC’s Newsbeat about the content of the drink, while Prime Hydration may have some benefit for athletes, most consumers would be just as well served by having a glass of water.
“If you’re exercising super hard, then absolutely [there’s a place for it]. But I would say for the majority of us, we do not need a special drink like this one,” Dr Patel said.
“I definitely don’t think that this drink is better than others. The majority of us don’t need a special drink to hydrate us, just get a good bottle of water.”
Prime Hydration Drink includes filtered water, citric acid, coconut water from concentrate, dipotassium phosphate, tri magnesium citrate, natural flavour, sucralose, L-isoleucine, L-leucine, L-valine, D-alpha tocopherol acetate (vitamin E), acesulfame potassium, retinyl palmitate (vitamin A), zinc aspartate, and pyridoxine hydrochloride.
However, the brand’s latest release, Prime Energy, contains more than twice the caffeine of its competitor, Red Bull, and is not advised for consumption by people under the age of 18.
The drink has not appeared yet on Australian shelves – if it ever will.
The Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) limits the amount of caffeine allowed in a drink to 32mg per 100ml and a can of Prime Energy contains 56mg per 100ml (200mg in total) – nearly twice the legal limit.
Yet as the drink is available online through overseas retailers and given the FOMO (fear of missing out) amongst teenagers for purchasing the brand, there are real concerns that the energy drinks will be consumed by under 18s.
Professor Ben Desbrow, a sports dietician at Griffith University, told ABC News on 29 March 2023, that the consumption of highly caffeinated drinks had a range of physiological and cognitive effects including insomnia, increased breathing and heart rate, and restlessness.
“In this case, giving a dose of caffeine to young children who’ve got … developing cognitive function is not a wise idea,” he said, noting that schools which banned Prime Energy, as well as Prime Hydration, were protecting young people from ‘the addictive substance.’
Video footage of the Perth launch appeared on KSI’s Twitter feed on 26 March 2023, along with a concerning image posted by a follower of a bottle of vaporiser juice marketed by their local E-Cigarette retailer as ‘Prime.’