Natural Cures (the blog)

Comparing Green Superfood Products

July 29th, 2008

UPDATED July 29, 2008
The number of green superfood powders that have sprouted up lately is astonishing. It reminds me of the tea craze in the mid-1990s that saw countless small herbal tea companies trying to duplicate the success of the Tazo brand (and that was before it was purchased by Starbucks). It’s doubtful that green superfood products will ever reach the popularity of herbal tea, but the activity in this arena is promising. At the least, it indicates that more Americans are trying to get more nutrition and improve their diets.

I’m including only those products I have determined to be among the best in this category and which contain the most robust mixtures of natural ingredients. Simple, single-ingredient drinks (like a simple wheat grass juice) did not make the cut. Products with a substantial amount of fillers or chemical ingredients will also not be included. I will add new products to this comparison as I become aware of them and if they are as good or better than those listed here.

Let’s begin with how these products overlap. The best green superfood drinks all contain some amount of the following ingredients:

• Land Vegetables (such as beets, spinach, grasses, dandelion, etc.)
• Sea Vegetables (kelp, purple dulse)
• Algaes (mainly spirulina and chlorella)
• Probiotics and Enzymes (the type and source differs)
• Fibrous Meal (flaxseed meal, brown rice solids, apple pectin, lecithin, and others)

The amounts of each of these ingredients may vary substantially from product to product. Some are heavy in the algaes while others favor land veggies. I look for at least 2 grams per serving being comprised of land vegetables, sea vegetables, and/or algaes, with a under 2 grams of fibrous meal, which is used like a natural filler to bulk up the product in most cases (not that lecithin or flax meal is not healthy, but I give more points for the better, more expensive, ingredients). Beyond this basic list, products may feature certain ingredients that add flavor or special qualities, such as energy enhancement or intestinal cleansing.

Dr. Shulze’s Super Food

The most basic formula I found was Dr. Shulze’s Super Food. This product is a simple mixture of the most basic ingredients with nothing noteworthy to help it stand out from the crowd. The land vegetables are minimal and the product focuses on spirulina and chlorella as its key ingredients — giving it an especially horrible taste . The good news is that it has the lowest price point of the group — at only $2.43 per ounce. I suppose you can take the money you save and buy the flavoring ingredients you’ll need to disguise taste of this product.

Recently, Dr. Shulze came out with a deluxe formula, called Super Food Plus, which has a much more competitive list of ingredients, including grasses, seaweed, beet and spinach leaf, orange peel and lemon peels. Unfortunately, he also added a bit of nutritional yeast, which is rich in nutrients, but many people cannot eat it due to bloating and gastric problems. Shulze claims that the yeast in this product is heated to destroy the “yeast” effect, but not the nutrients. You can try it out and be the judge. The product is still among the least expensive at $2.57 per ounce and this makes is a great value, even though it’s not the most robust formulation.

Ben Kim’s Greens

A different approach is taken in the formulation of Dr. Ben Kim’s Greens. This product offers a robust mixture of land veggies, including dandelion, kale and spinach. These veggie powders dominate the mixture and there are no fibrous meal ingredients to take up space. The rest is somewhat standard except for the price, which is the second lowest of the batch at $3.00 per ounce.

Vitamineral Green

Ben Kim’s Greens, Billy’s Greens, and Vitamineral Green are all formulated at the same laboratory — by expert formulator Jameth Sheridan of Health Force Nutritionals (his own product is Vitamineral Green). All these products are top quality in terms of the source and freshness of ingredients.

Sheridan’s own product, Vitamineral Green, is an excellent contender. It has a lot of grasses, which are high in nutrients, but not as high as kelp and some other products. But to compliment the grasses is a healthy dose of Nettle and juices of alfalfa, dendelion, broccoli, kale and other veggies. It is high in spirulina and kelp too, so you can bet you’re getting a quality blend here. There are no fruits, but honestly, most green products don’t have enough fruits to make them a substitute for the “Red” products (to be covered in future articles), so the lack of a fruit blend is not a huge negative on my list. Vitamineral Green clocks in at $3.06 per ounce, which makes it one of the best values among the super robust formulas.

Billy’s Greens & Boku Super Food

Two products, Billy’s Infinity Greens, and Boku Super Food, are very similar in composition. They both have an excellent mixture of land vegetables (including maca root, nettles, and nopal cactus), algaes, sea vegetables and probiotics. Billy’s Infinity Greens is heavy on the algaes, whereas Boku provides a heavier dose of maca and kelp. Billy’s is made by expert formulator Jameth Sheridan, whereas Boku is made by a more “mass production” supplier. This might influence the quality of the ingredients. Boku is better tasting than Billy’s, probably because of the maca and a bit of carob root thrown in for good taste (literally). Boku also contains a simple blend of fruit, which Billy’s does not. Finally, Boku is a lot more expensive at $5.99 per ounce, over Billy Green’s at $4.02 per ounce.

Miracle Greens

The product called Miracle Greens was among the first on the market and is still among the best. Its land veggies include beets, cactus, barley grass, and carrot. It has large doses of herbs, including ginger, horsetail, suma, astragalus, Echinacea, milk thistle and others. It includes a few fruits (berries, cintrus, acerola cherries) and offers green tea, watercress, royal jelly, and aloe vera as special ingredients. It has the usual algaes and contains a lot of fibrous meal, which is a mixture of lecithin, apple pectin and flax seed meal, but overall, it’s among my favorites and costs $4.00 per ounce.

Green Vibrance

Since I’ve been using Green Vibrance to test it, I must confess that it’s becoming one of my favorite green drinks. It has a very nice and well rounded formulation, plus it contains a decent amount of green tea powder, which I personally like in a green drink because it adds anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory qualities (among others). I don’t mind the little bit of caffeine that comes with the tea. Green Vibrance has some other very nice ingredients for additional antioxidant power and it’s got an extremely fair price tag at only $3.70 per ounce. It comes in capsules, single-serving packets, and powder.

Berry Green & Vital Greens

These two products are on the high-end of the spectrum. They both have excellent formulations and approximately the same cost per ounce (above $5). They are heavy in spirulina and grasses, while also offering substantial amounts of fruit powders. In the case of Berry Green, this comes in the form of red berries. In the case of Vital Greens, it comes in the form of apple powder, Billberry and acerola. If you want your berries and fruits along with the green superfoods, then these are worth looking at.

New Greens

A final entry is New Greens, a formula that includes a little of everything, with a focus on algaes and alfalfa. Land veggies include carrot, spinach, tomato, kale, broccoli and others. Some special herbal additions worth highlighting include royal jelly, pollen, green tea, milk thistle, tumeric, and ginko biloba. It has a small amount of fibrous meal in the form of flaxseed meal, apple pectin, and brown rice solids. Unfortunately, it also includes some guar gum, but not enough to complain about. Not everyone will like the taste, which is flavored with mint and stevia, so it’s sweet and minty with a hint of freshly cut grass. It weighs in at $3.78 per ounce.

The Envelope Please…

So, there you have it, some of the top contenders in the green superfood drink category. Which one you choose depends on your reason for taking the stuff in the first place — and your budget. If you’re looking for the most nutrition per spoonful, then Billy’s Infinity Greens and Vitamineral Green are your best bets. But they are also rather expensive. If you want plenty of berries and fruits in your green drink, then check out Vital Greens and Berry Green. If you like getting some special herbs together with your green drink, then Miracle Greens, New Greens, and Vital Green are good options. My personal favorite? I go for the one with the best cost-benefit ratio and no filler: Vitamineral Green. I get it in the biggest size available and mega-dose on it nearly every day.

I hope this helps you decide on how you’re going to “go green” and increase your nutrition.

greens image copyright: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Daniel_Ventura

Related Articles:
Green Super Foods, Drink to your Health
My Favorite Power Foods & Super Foods
Green Superfood Products: How to Read the Labels

Entry Filed under: immune system, more energy, spirulina, superfoods