We sponsor major YouTube channels and podcasts such as Joe Rogan and Lex Fridman. His Andrew Huberman, one of the top science podcasters, is also an official partner of this product. It also sponsored the 2023 Pickleball Players Association Tour. Apparently everyone drinks it and says they “feel better.”
There is no avoiding AG1 and its marketing campaigns.
AG1, manufactured by Athletic Greens, is a green powder. Add to liquid, mix and drink once a day. Other than that, it’s more than that. One of the many promotional emails I received about this product states that it is a blend of 75 ingredients that “effectively covers the body’s fundamentals” and that it “comprehensively nourishes all of the body’s systems.” “Carefully selected to give you.” One wonders how we evolved from single-celled organisms before AG1 appeared.
Should I take AG1 every day “just in case”?
The good news about AG1 is that it is NSF certified. This means that a recognized third party tests the product to ensure that the powder really does contain what it says on the label, and that it is free of dangerous levels of contaminants such as microorganisms and heavy metals. Test. . This is a good thing because dietary supplements (and AG1 is also subject to them) are not held to the same regulatory standards as pharmaceuticals and are therefore often adulterated and contaminated. (Supplements are not regulated in the United States.)
The bad news is that once you strip away the marketing hype from AG1, you’re left with the question of who really needs it in the first place.
Just in case
AG1 may be a cool new kid on the block, but its main claim to fame is pretty mediocre. Remember Flintstones vitamins? Essentially, they’re not that different from AG1 green smoothies. It is partly a multivitamin and mineral supplement, and most of the vitamins it contains exceed the recommended daily intake. For example, AG1 contains 467% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin C and 1,100% of vitamin B7. Both of these vitamins are water-soluble, so if you get too much of it through diet or supplements, it’s simply excreted in the urine, increasing its economic value.
Other vitamins, especially A, D, E, and K, are fat-soluble and can accumulate in the body in large amounts and cause damage. Vitamins have positive effects on health, but they are not necessarily benign. For example, smokers are sometimes told not to consume large amounts of beta-carotene (which is converted into vitamin A in the body). This is because two studies have linked high levels of this supplement to an increased risk of lung cancer in smokers. Similarly, vitamin K can reduce the effectiveness of blood thinners such as warfarin, so multivitamin supplements should not be viewed as a universal benefit with no downsides for everyone. Also, some people take “antioxidant” supplements without realizing that these already contain vitamins such as vitamins A, C, and E, and are getting more vitamins than they realize. You may have.
But if you’re a smoker and don’t take blood thinners, you may be tempted by the idea of taking a multivitamin shake like AG1. After all, what if you’re not getting enough vitamins through your diet? AG1 is a safeguard against deficiencies. That idea goes back to the Miles Institute. The company first brought his once-daily multivitamin to market in the 1940s, introducing customers to the idea of nutritional insurance. Just to be safe, take one pill a day. It’s a great marketing move (and paved the way for the $8 billion annual multivitamin industry in the United States). However, you may be surprised to learn that most people get enough vitamins and minerals from their diet. . In a study of 90,771 American men and women over the age of 45, three-quarters of them were getting enough of these nutrients through their diets. Taking a multivitamin and mineral supplement increased that percentage slightly, but it also led to just over one in 10 people getting more vitamin A, iron, and zinc than they needed.
When it comes to multivitamins, it’s usually people who need them at least While there are people who buy them, people who can actually benefit from them, such as people of lower socio-economic status whose diets are deficient in some nutrients, are more likely to consume them. It is the least sexual. His daily price for AG1 is $79 per month, plus a $9 shipping fee to Canada and the United States, but for those concerned, it’s unnecessary health insurance. Professional groups have repeatedly opposed the daily use of multivitamins, arguing that multivitamins have little effect on preventing disease. Although supplements are recommended in certain ways for certain groups of people, multivitamins as a form of health insurance are not supported by data. If in doubt, consult your doctor or registered dietitian.
But AG1 is more than just a multivitamin and mineral supplement. It is also a blend of all sorts of health-promoting ingredients, but very few are scientifically backed.
Something like a wellness bingo card
As I looked at AG1’s extensive list of ingredients, there were a lot of eye-rolling words. alkalinity. Living. Superfood. Adaptogen. These all refer to unsubstantiated health trends. There is no such thing as a superfood. Your blood contains buffers that keep its pH within a very narrow range, so you can’t (and don’t need to) alkalize your body by eating foods and drinks that have a basic pH. there is no). Cooked food doesn’t make us sick. In fact, heating food kills pathogens.
And adaptogens? These are plants and mushrooms used in Asian folk customs and researched by the Soviet Union during World War II that were claimed to help relieve stress in our bodies, but there is no evidence to support that claim. There was no evidence. AG1 includes several mushrooms, including Rhodiola, Eleuthero, Reishi, and Shiitake. In addition to the lack of support for their claimed benefits, they are a mixture of whole plants, fungi, and molecules whose concentrations vary depending on season and soil conditions, and the final amount contained in AG1 is not disclosed. . For example, Rhodiola is a plant that contains polyphenols, glycosides, organic acids, essential oils, alcohol, proteins, sugars, and fats. Even if some of these molecules are shown to be beneficial, we don’t know if we’re getting the right dose between AG1 pouches.
What AG1 is really useful for is the fruit and vegetable powder it contains. Less than 1 in 3 Canadians report consuming enough fruits and vegetables each day, based on Canada’s Food Guide recommendations. In the United States, that percentage hovers between one in eight and one in 10. The biggest barrier Canadians report is price. So, if you want to have enough fruits and vegetables, but don’t want to go over your budget, the first thing you need to do is maintain them. Pay attention to what’s on sale at the supermarket. However, if you really prefer processed fruit and vegetable powder mixes, keep in mind that there are more affordable options than AG1.
Other features of AG1 are of questionable merit at best. Inulin is a source of dietary fiber, and while fiber is good overall, inulin can cause gas, especially if you have irritable bowel syndrome. Coenzyme Q10, which our bodies naturally produce, may have cardiovascular benefits when taken as a supplement, but the jury is still out. Cocoa bean polyphenol extract has a lot of hype, but when it was tested (tests sponsored by chocolate companies) it didn’t show any results. AG1 contains spirulina, a type of algae, but we don’t know why. When sold as a standalone supplement, it is advertised as a source of beta-carotene, iron, and protein, but the first two are already contained in AG1, and at 2 grams of protein per serving of AG1, It cannot be ingested. Overall an important source of protein.
AG1 also contains the digestive enzyme bromelain, which is derived from pineapple. Historically used by people of Central and South American origin to aid digestion, although technically protein can be digested in the lab, studies have demonstrated that this supplement helps humans digest food. I had a hard time finding human studies to do so. The closest I could find were several papers published in Italian and German between 1970 and 1972, but they were not accessible online. This kind of forgotten research is unlikely to give us a definitive answer.
Then there are probiotics, or bacteria. acidophilus and B. bifidum. Once again, the probiotic hype has overtaken the science. For example, we know that probiotics can prevent diarrhea associated with taking antibiotics, but we don’t yet know which strains and doses to recommend. We know that fecal transplants can help people suffering from infectious diseases. C. difficile However, outside of these examples, evidence-based recommendations are lacking. AG1 claims that its probiotics have 7.2 billion colony forming units (CFU), which is 7 times more than the average probiotic his yogurt. Does it make a difference, especially if you’re healthy? We don’t know.
So who really benefits from taking AG1 daily?
Quizzes with only one answer
AG1’s website mentions a study in which participants who drank AG1 felt less bloated and more energetic. The problem was that there was no control group. Outcomes were assessed by subjective self-report. There were only 35 adult participants. There’s not much to conclude here other than people who reported feeling better after drinking a green liquid that they were told would make them feel better.
Too many people seem to believe that vitamin supplements are energy boosters. it’s not. If you get enough vitamins from your diet, like most Canadians and Americans, taking more won’t improve your concentration. For that you need caffeine.
The AG1 website has a quiz to ‘see if AG1 is right for you’. I wondered if the answer could be, “No, our product is not suitable for you.”
I approach the question like someone who consumes optimal nutrition and exercises regularly — the people who are least likely to need support on what the company calls their “health management journey.” I tried to answer.
I said my energy levels are even, I eat whole foods, I poop regularly, I’ve never felt stressed, and I exercise several times a week.I was still AG1 is recommended. I was told that my exercise habits weren’t optimal, so I answered that I worked out more days than I rested and took the quiz again. Although scores were shown to be optimal overall, Also AG1 is recommended.
However, no results were displayed on the website. I had to give the company my email address before I could find out if AG1 was recommended to me. So I was added to the company’s mailing list. I think this was the goal from the beginning.
There is an obvious dichotomy worth pointing out here. In my experience with medical professionals, they don’t want you to take unnecessary medications. They often encourage you to reduce your dose until you find the lowest effective dose, or refuse to prescribe something that doesn’t seem to work. But in the world of health and alternative medicine, I think exactly the opposite. It is said that everyone can benefit from any intervention. If you are cured with supplements, you will be asked to continue taking them as maintenance therapy. Wellness’ welcoming arms never tire.
AG1 is clearly appropriate for everyone “just in case,” just as the Miles Institute taught us to think 80 years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Take-home message:
– AG1 is a very popular supplement powder used to make once-a-day smoothies with 75 ingredients
– The vitamins and minerals included are based on the idea that the average person does not get enough of these nutrients through their diet, which is contrary to scientific evidence.
– AG1 also contains digestive enzymes, adaptogens, and probiotics, but the fact is that there is no solid evidence that they benefit humans.
@CrackedScience
