Is AG1 Worth It?
I think AG1 is BS. Here's why + what to buy instead.
Ok AG1. Everybody from Huberman to your favorite Pilates model is drinking it.
They advertise on their beautiful trillion-dollar ad campaign. Get all your vitamins, all your minerals in one serving.
I have never been into AG1. In fact, I’ve never bought it because I knew it’s a bunch of scam or BS, and I’m here to tell you why.
Plus, I’m going to give you way better superfoods that aren’t made by trillion-dollar corporations, aren’t here to steal your money, and are actual superfoods.
If you’re ready, this is a Biohack With Jack newsletter. We’re about to fucking get it.
The Hype Is Real
When you dive into the website, you see the amazing branding, the Register logo, plus, you see the words:
“The number one doctor-recommended brand for foundational nutrition supplements. Backed by four clinical trials and NSF certified for sports.”
NSF certified is pretty good. At least we know there are no steroids in there. Backed by four clinical trials. Science is wonderful, and we love approval, but I wonder who paid for it?
What AG1 Claims To Be: They say AG1 is a clinically backed daily health drink that combines a multivitamin, prebiotic, probiotic, superfoods, and antioxidants into one delicious green scoop. That sounds freaking incredible. We got stuff for the gut, superfoods, and antioxidants. It sounds amazing, but I want to dive deeper.
First and foremost, where are their organic or glyphosate-free labels?
These are industry standards among top companies today, and they invest heavily to prove their greens come from organic farms—free of harmful pesticides like glyphosate, which is known to cause a range of health issues.
AG1 is a billion-dollar company essentially and doesn’t have any of these. That’s a red flag.
Here’s What’s Actually Wrong With AG1
The 12-Gram Math Problem
This is the real issue. AG1 claims to pack 75 ingredients (83 in the new Next Gen formula) into a 12-gram scoop. But the first few listed—spirulina, wheatgrass, pea protein, and inulin—likely take up more than 10 grams on their own.
That’s not “superfoods”; that’s marketing smoke and mirrors.
That leaves maybe 2 grams for the remaining 70-plus ingredients—basically dust. For reference, ashwagandha needs around 500–600 mg to show clinical effects, and rhodiola around 200–400 mg.
There’s just no mathematical way they’re hitting effective doses.
Proprietary Blends Hide Everything
49 of the 75 ingredients sit inside proprietary blends with no individual doses listed. They tell you what’s in it but not how much. The industry consensus is that this is done to hide underdosing, not to protect trade secrets.
The Prop 65 Lead Issue
In 2015, California alleged AG1 may have been exposing consumers to lead levels exceeding Prop 65 thresholds.
$99/Month for a Glorified Multivitamin
Multiple dietitians have said this is essentially an overpriced mega-multivitamin with marketing bells and whistles.
You could get a third-party tested multivitamin, a standalone probiotic, and actual whole vegetables for a fraction of the cost.
You’re basically paying for the overpriced pee. Plus all these in extracted forms. It sounds really good. I know it’s compelling, but you’re not getting exactly what you think.
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So What Do You Actually Do?
You actually buy a real superfoods powder, but number one, you start with a really phenomenal diet that is nutrient-dense and good for gut health, which I talk all about. For starters, it is:
Eating a whole bunch of organic and pesticide-free plants
Eating a whole bunch of organic herbs and fruits
Having healthy, filtered, mineralized water
Wild or grass-fed and regenerative beef
Eating fun things like dark chocolate and sprouted nuts and seeds and fermented foods
Eating a wide variety of plants
Eating in a relaxed state
That’s number one.
Number 2. Superfood companies that actually have superfoods.
Organifi Green Juice
Organifi is my favorite superfood company because they are legit. Here are the real stats.
11 ingredients vs 83. Organifi Green Juice uses 11 superfoods. AG1 Next Gen crams 83 into one scoop. Less is more when it means each ingredient actually has room to work.
600mg of KSM-66 Ashwagandha — a real clinical dose. Organifi discloses this number on the label. Clinical research backs 300-600mg daily for cortisol reduction. AG1 buries ashwagandha inside a proprietary blend where it’s almost certainly underdosed given the 12g math problem.
USDA Certified Organic. Every ingredient in Organifi is organic. AG1 only has “some” organic ingredients — they literally say “some of which are organic” on their label.
Certificates of Analysis posted publicly. Organifi tests every batch for heavy metals, pathogens, and pesticides and publishes the results on their website. AG1 had that 2015 California Prop 65 lead allegation.
Price comparison. Organifi runs about $2.30/serving (~$69/month). AG1 is $3.30/serving (~$99/month). That’s $360/year back in your pocket.
That’s just their green juice. They have a red juice, which I love. They have amazing Shilajit gummies. They have so many amazing superfoods that, if you’re going to spend your money, you might as well spend it on something that actually works for you.
If you don’t know about Organifi, here’s some other superfood companies that are legit.
Other Real Superfood Companies
Ancient Nutrition — Cofounded by Dr. Josh Axe. Organic supergreens with probiotics, spirulina, chlorella, matcha, and digestive enzymes. Strong functional medicine credibility.
Garden of Life — Certified B Corp, USDA Organic + Non-GMO dual certified, USA-farmed greens cold-dried within an hour of harvest. 1.5 billion CFU probiotics. ~$0.70-1.00/serving. The gold standard for raw organic greens.
PaleoValley — Organic Supergreens. Every raw material is USDA Organic, zero additives or fillers. They intentionally exclude cereal grasses. Fewer ingredients, better doses. ~$1.50/serving.
How To Spot the BS: Your Buyer’s Guide
Here’s what you need to know before you buy any greens or superfood powder:
Look for individual ingredient doses on the label. If you see “proprietary blend” followed by a long list of ingredients with only one total weight — that’s a red flag.
Do the scoop math. Look at the serving size in grams, then count the ingredients. If there are 75 ingredients in a 12-gram scoop, most of them are present in trace amounts that won’t do anything for you. A scoop can only hold so much. Fewer ingredients at real doses beats a long list at fairy dust levels every time.
Check for USDA Organic certification on the actual label. Not “made with organic ingredients” or “sourced from organic farms” — the actual USDA Organic seal. That means the whole product passed certification, not just a few ingredients. Non-organic greens powders can carry pesticide and glyphosate residue, which defeats the entire purpose.
Look for third-party testing. Certifications like NSF, USP, or ConsumerLab mean someone other than the company verified what’s in the product. Even better — companies like Organifi that publish their Certificates of Analysis per batch so you can actually look at the test results yourself.
Check the vitamin doses against your daily value. If a greens powder gives you 1,100% of biotin or 467% of vitamin C, that’s not a benefit — that’s excess your body will just excrete. You’re paying for expensive urine. The best powders give you whole food nutrition, not mega-dosed synthetic vitamins.
Adaptogens need real doses to work. Ashwagandha needs 300-600mg. Rhodiola needs 200-400mg. If they’re buried in a blend and you can’t verify the dose, assume they’re underdosed. Research the clinically studied dose for any adaptogen or mushroom listed and see if the label matches.
Watch for filler ingredients near the top of the list. Ingredients are listed by weight. If you see things like pea protein, rice flour, or inulin as the first few ingredients, that’s what’s taking up most of your scoop — not the superfoods you’re paying for.
Probiotics should list CFU count and specific strains. “Contains probiotics” means nothing. You want to see the exact strains (like Lactobacillus acidophilus or Bifidobacterium bifidum) and the CFU count (at least 1 billion, ideally 5-10 billion). Without that, it’s marketing.
Sweeteners matter. Stevia is everywhere in greens powders and a lot of people don’t tolerate it well. Monk fruit is generally cleaner. Anything with sucralose or artificial sweeteners — skip it entirely.
Price per serving, not price per bag. A $30 bag with 15 servings costs more per scoop than a $70 bag with 30 servings. Always do the math. And compare that cost against what you’d actually need to spend on targeted supplements to get the same result.
Have you tried AG1? What was your experience? Drop it in the comments 👇
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References
McGill University Office for Science and Society. “You Probably Don’t Need that Green AG1 Smoothie.” March 2024.
Zaragoza et al. “The effects of AG1 supplementation on the gut microbiome of healthy adults.” PubMed PMID: 39352252. 2024.
California Proposition 65, Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986. AG1 lead allegation, 2015.
Choudhary D, Bhattacharyya S, Bose S. “Efficacy and Safety of Ashwagandha (KSM-66) Root Extract.” Indian J Psychol Med. 2017;39(5):615-619.
Lansley KE et al. “Dietary nitrate supplementation reduces the O2 cost of walking and running.” J Appl Physiol. 2011;110(3):591-600.
Ishaque S et al. “Rhodiola rosea L. as a putative botanical antidepressant.” Phytomedicine. 2012;19(5):346-354.
Top Nutrition Coaching. “A Dietitian’s AG1 Review 2026.” January 2026.