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Two of the biggest brands in the super greens powder space, if you spend even a couple of minutes browsing the internet for the best greens powder and you’ll end up coming across these brands. The fact is that we probably wouldn’t have said either of these two are the best options, but with them being the most popular super greens juice brands comparing them could make for beneficial reading.
Greens powders are one of the most popular supplements to hit the market recently, with most western diets missing out on a lot of the nutrition that the human body needs from green vegetables getting them from one glass of green juice seems like a no-brainer for a lot of people.
Generally, they contain a blend of leafy super greens and occasionally the blue-green algae spirulina, which helps with digestion and has a host of other health benefits. Some of the other more common ingredients include kale powder, spinach, wheatgrass, broccoli, and alfalfa. As you’d expect this means that greens powders are generally quite full of vitamins like iron, but most of them cover off almost all your essential vitamins and minerals in one serving.
This is important in modern life with almost half of the US population being deficient in at least one key nutrient [1] and some studies showing that vitamin D can be almost half the adult population alone [2]. This isn’t surprising when a recent EASNA study showed that nearly 60% of workers didn’t have access to healthy meals that met their nutritional requirements in the work place.
Beyond that, the best supergreens also include probiotics, digestive enzymes, herbal extracts, and antioxidants. The later section is where a lot of the variance lies, with the probiotics and particularly the herbs.
A lot of best greens powders focus on one specific area, almost like a nootropic supplement, whether that’s focusing on stress with ingredients like ashwagandha or rosea. AG1 and Organifi do in theory have quite interesting blends however the problem that we have with both AG1 and Organifi is that both of their blends are proprietary, which means that we can’t verify whether these are in high enough doses to actually be effective.
AG1 has an almost ludicrous list of ingredients, to the point where there’s no way that we’re going to go through everything. If we look at the list of vitamins and nutrients, it’s basically got all of your RDI’s covered with the exclusion of magnesium and calcium. This means that you’re basically covered for the day with ag1’s super greens powder.
However, based on listing conventions the highest volume ingredients are at the start and working their way down (this is a legal standard in Europe) so as we work our way down the natural extracts section, most of the effective ingredients are towards the bottom, they’re also more expensive, and as a result, we expect in very low amounts.
The problem with this is that means that they’re unlikely to be in their effective dosages. For example, Kola extract should be taken between 500mg – 2000mg [3], but it’s 10th on a list of around 30 ingredients that have to be divided from 3000mg. Meaning that athletic greens are spending more time looking like it’s got all the ingredients that they should have rather than actually including them.
It is, however, one of the better-tasting greens powders on the market, which is a point in its favor and does make it one of the best greens powders for first-timers.
As for Organifi Greens, we’re even less enamored than we were with AG1. Organifi tells us next to nothing about what’s in it. Sure, it’s got some wheatgrass and some moringa leaf (which is a nice addition rich in amino acids) but beyond that, there’s not much positive we can say about it.
A lot of health supplements include organic coconut powder, but the thing is it’s not actually that good for you, there have been a lot of claims that it helps regulate blood sugar and reduce cravings, but the reality is that most of these were animal studies, and this effect has not been replicated in humans [4]. We love the inclusion of ashwagandha, but as we can’t confirm if it’s within the effective dose range of 600mg, [5] then we can’t say this is a good thing.
Out of the two, we’d generally lean more towards AG1 Athletic Greens, and the reason is that with what we can see on the label we know that it covers all the nutrients that you’d want for the day. The problem with organific is that whilst we like ashwagandha, and turmeric extract we don’t know if the dosage is high enough because the blend is proprietary.
AG1 suffers from the same problem, but at least the greens blend covers enough to still make the greens juice worth it. In short, if we had to pick between the two it would be AG1 hands down, it tastes better, we at least know it covers the vitamins and minerals off, and there’s a good chance that at least some of the ingredients are at the right levels. However, neither of these products is even close to being the best greens powder on the market right now.
Personally, we’re big fans of super greens tonik, it’s got everything that these two do, plus has a load of extra nootropic ingredients that help combat stress rather than just the standard antioxidants and nutrients that super green powders are known for.
It’s also not a proprietary blend, meaning that we know that the dosages are within the studied ideal. For example, for Ashwagandha to be effective it needs to be 600mg, we have no idea if organifi has this much in one serving. There are others that do beat it on taste, however. Although not that many people are drinking greens powders for the taste.
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