Athletic greens, or AG1, has taken over the ad-space of several popular podcasts.

The concept for such a product is an alluring idea: knock out all of your nutrition in one drink.

However, it isn’t quite what it seems; and you should have a good understanding of its utility before buying.

Especially considering what it costs.

So, the aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive review & analysis of athletic greens to help you understand if it’s worthwhile for you.

Topics to be covered are:

• AG1 nutrition info

• AG1 alternatives

• AG1 cost

• and more

If you have any questions left unanswered, feel free to email me at info@FitnessSimplified.org or comment below.

Athletic Greens (AG1) Nutrition Info Analysis

Depicted below is the nutrition facts of athletic greens, as listed on their website.

At first glance, this looks all nice and fancy.

However, upon further analysis there’s some real problems.

To start, there is no vitamin D in the product.

For a product meant to “cover your nutritional bases” you’d think it’d be obvious to contain all of your vitamins.

Vitamin D particularly is a nutrient that people are very commonly deficient in, which can lead to health complications [source].

Turns out, they conveniently sell vitamin D as a separate product.

They state vitamin K as an ingredient, but do not list the dose.

Apart from that, it’s not all that different than a decent multivitamin.

That’s not all, though: there’s another problem. A big one, in fact.

Do you notice how they have three different ‘complexes’ listed; and then a laundry list of ingredients within the complex?

Whenever a supplement does this, a big red flag should go up in your head.

Oftentimes, companies will use terms such as ‘complex’ or ‘proprietary blends’ when doing this.

Why is this a problem?

It’s their way of not telling you the dose of any of the listed ingredients.

In many instances, companies will massively under-dose the ingredients, allowing them to still put it on the label but make significantly more profit.

This study tested the top 30 ‘immune boosting’ supplements on amazon and found this to be the case.

Finally, when you add up the total amount of ‘greens’ in this powder it totals to a mere 10 grams. That’s nothing.

1 cup of spinach is 25 grams, and 1 cup of spinach isn’t all that much.

All-in-all, the nutrition facts of athletic greens (AG1) are quite unimpressive.

Does AG1 help you lose weight?

A commonly asked question is if taking greens powders, such as AG1, will help you lose body fat.

I’ll cut straight to the chase: AG1 will not help you lose weight.

Here’s why:

The law of energy balance demands that in order for you to lose weight, you must consume less calories than your body burns in a day; thereby forcing it to turn to its own reserves of energy. (calories = unit of measurement for energy)

Therefore, any intervention that produces weight loss must A) decrease calorie consumption or B) increase calorie output; either way tipping the scales in this direction.

Fruits & vegetables tend to be helpful in this regard because they tend to provide a high volume of food for a low number of calories. This higher volume of food helps you feel fuller with smaller calorie intake.

As we mentioned previously, AG1 has only 10 grams of “greens.” That’s not going to move the needle for anybody.

From a weight loss perspective, you’d be much better off buying an apple for 20 cents.

Athletic greens cost & pricing

There are a few ways to pay for athletic greens.

As a single purchase of 1 pouch, the price is is $99; which doesn’t include shipping.

If you subscribe to get 1 pouch monthly, the price becomes $79; again not including shipping. That comes out to just under $1000 per year.

If you subscribe to get 2 pouches monthly, the price becomes $149; without shipping. This comes out to just under $1800 per year.

As far as supplements go, this is incredibly pricey.

To put this into perspective, let’s compare it to BPN’s Creatine Monohydrate; what I consider to be the best creatine on the market.

Note: Athletic Greens (AG1) does NOT have creatine.

So, why would I compare this to creatine?

I am comparing this to creatine because creatine is a highly studied supplement known to bring numerous benefits to health and performance with no side effects.

No other supplement has the same degree of research backing its efficacy & safety compared to creatine [source].

I would strongly argue it’s the most worthwhile of any supplement for any reason.

So, a cost-comparison to creatine is worthwhile because it illustrates the difference in price between AG1 and a product that is guaranteed to bring you benefits.

As a single purchase, BPN’s creatine costs $35 and each tub will last you 2 months.

Approximating $17.50 per month.

That’s $81.50 LESS per month for significantly more benefits than what Athletic Greens gives you.

Related: Creatine Explained

Athletic Greens Alternatives

Even though I just did a great deal of bashing to Athletic Greens (AG1), that’s not to say it isn’t important to have a sufficient daily intake of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and prebiotics.

Fortunately there are other ways that are far cheaper and (arguably) far easier to accomplish this.

In terms of alternative supplements, a much smarter choice is a simple, high-quality multivitamin.

A multi-vitamin worth its salt is going to have a better vitamin & mineral profile for a significantly lower price.

My recommendation would be Bare Performance Nutrition’s Multi-Vitamin.

I have no affiliation with them and make no money from the recommendation, I just think they make the highest quality product in this category.

The main difference between a multi-vitamin and a greens powder is that the greens powder may also contain prebiotics, probiotics, phytonutrients, etc. In other words, more than just vitamins and minerals.

Here’s the problem: there isn’t nearly enough greens in this powder to give you any dose worth bragging about.

As we noted previously, there’s only about 10 grams total of ‘greens’ in Athletic Greens. That’s pitiful.

Whether or not you take a greens powder or multi-vitamin, you should still strive to eat 1 serving of ~3-5 different fruits & vegetables each day.

At the end of the day, no supplement can fill the gap left by not doing this.

If you’ve ever considered purchasing a greens powder like Athletic Greens, than I promise you can financially afford 3-5 fruits & vegetables every day.

The price of 1 pouch of Athletic Greens can also buy you ~100 onions. That’s a lot of freakin’ onions.

Related: Collagen: a Brief Review of the Research

Conclusion

With all of that said, Athletic Greens (AG1) is not a product I would recommend to anyone.

Not just because it isn’t nearly as good as whole foods, but there are significantly less expensive and more effective supplement options if you wish to go that route.

This doesn’t just include Athletic Greens, though.

Any greens powder from any company I would recommend you avoid.

Across the board, they’re just easy marketing points for companies with high profit-margins.