We answer some of the most commonly asked questions in Primal Greens Powder Reviews.
Superfood, Antioxidant, And Mushroom Blend - 4.9 Grams
Superfoods
The superfoods in Primal Greens are alfalfa Leaf, carrots, wheat grass, spinach, spirulina, banana, coconut juice, broccoli, tomatoes, beets, cucumber, brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage, celery, asparagus, green bell peppers, parsley, cauliflower, and chlorella (cracked cell wall).
Things like carrots, bananas, coconut juice, tomatoes, cucumber, brussels sprouts, cabbage, celery, asparagus, green bell peppers, and cauliflower are all healthy when eaten as whole foods, but there's little to no evidence they provide their benefits when consumed in powder form.
As a result, they're usually only found in cheaper green powder supplements that are trying to bulk up their formula.
There are, however, a few more common superfood supplement ingredients in Primal Greens, many of which can be very beneficial if they're used correctly, but even these appear to have issues relating to how they've been used too.
Alfalfa Leaf
Alfalfa is a leafy green that contains pinitol, a chemical proven to improve the functions of your liver, kidneys, and digestive system, and that can greatly boost your gut health.
The problem is, these benefits have only been conclusively shown to be produced by fresh alfalfa, rather than the powdered form present here (1).
Wheat Grass
Wheat grass is the new sprouts that grow atop the wheat plant and there's evidence suggesting that it's rich in antioxidants, minerals, and vitamin a, vitamin b, vitamin c, vitamin e, and vitamin k, while being extremely low in calories (2).
It's said to prevent oxidative damage, inflammation, and heart disease, lower your cholesterol levels, and help treat arthritis and various other diseases. Unfortunately, while there's some studies supporting these claims, none of the results are conclusive, so it may do nothing at all.
Spinach
Spinach is widely consumed due to it being extremely high in essential vitamins and minerals, as well as fibre and protein.
It's usually put in a superfood supplement to add health benefits like enhancing your sight and blood pressure levels and reducing anxiety, oxidative damage, and stress (3).
The problem is, as it's in a proprietary blend, we have no way of knowing how much is present, which means we also can't determine if it'll be of any use or not.
Spirulina
Spirulina is a type of blue green algae that's rich in antioxidants, fatty acids, protein, vitamins, and minerals, and is particularly popular in super greens supplements.
The wide range of health benefits it can can offer includes fighting free radicals, preventing oxidative damage, lowering blood pressure and blood sugar levels, reducing inflammation, improving heart health and metabolism, and suppressing your appetite (4).
The issue is, these effect only occur when you consume at least 8 grams of spirulina daily. As this weighs more than an entire serving of Primal Greens, even the proprietary blend can't hide the fact that there isn't enough present to be of any use.
Broccoli
Broccoli has started to be put in greens powders due to claims that it can produce a slight reduction in your LDL cholesterol levels (5).
Unfortunately, not only is the effect of broccoli on cholesterol levels minimal, but it also requires a large quantity to be eaten to produce it, and the effects have never been seen in the powder form. This almost guarantees its inclusion in Primal Greens is of absolutely no use.
Beets
Beets are rich in antioxidants, vitamin c, folate, nitrate, and potassium.
They can reduce inflammation, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels, enhance eye, heart, and immune health, increase your energy and stamina levels, protect your blood, liver, and many other organs, and help your body fight certain illnesses (6).
The problem is, for them to be effective, you must consume at least 1 gram of beets per day.
The proprietary blend hiding the dosages makes it impossible to know exactly how much is present here, but it being buried in the middle of a huge blend that weighs less than 5 grams in total makes it extremely unlikely a sufficient dose is present.
Kale
Kale can offer an incredible range of health benefits, thanks to being very high in phytochemicals, vitamins, and minerals. This includes it being able to reduce your LDL cholesterol levels and risk of heart disease (7).
However, the benefits of kale are only seen when you consume at least 5 per day. As this is more than the entire weight of the blend that it's in, it is simply impossible for enough kale to be present in Primal Greens to have any effect.
Parsley
Parsley is high in a variety of antioxidants and essential nutrients, and is believed to offer a variety of benefits to the human body, including enhancing eye, bone, and heart health, boosting the immune system, and helping combat bacteria, diseases, and viruses (8).
The issue is, these claims have only been proven in the fresh herb, meaning its presence here in powder form is unlikely to do anything but take up room.
Chlorella (Cracked Cell Wall)
Chlorella is a chlorophyte green algae that's full of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.
It's best known for being able to boost your energy levels better than regular sugar, without spiking your blood, but it also offers other benefits, like regulating cholesterol and blood sugar levels, fighting diseases and illnesses, detoxifying the body, and improving your overall health and wellbeing (9).
Much like everything in Primal Greens though, the proprietary blends they use make it almost impossible to know if enough chlorella has been used to produce these effects.
Antioxidants
Primal Greens contains the antioxidants pomegranate, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cranberries, pineapple, concord grapes, cherries, apricots, strawberries, and camu camu fruit.
All these fruits are indeed rich in antioxidants but this kind of blend is usually no more than a way to bulk up a green superfood powder.
With everything present in very small doses and very little research done into the powdered extracts of these fruits, don't rest your hopes on them being of any use.
Mushroom Blend
The smallest of the three parts of the Superfood, Antioxidant, and Mushroom Blend, the mushroom blend consists of just reishi and maitake mushroom extracts.
These fungi are found in east Asia and said to boost the immune system and immune function, relive stress, lower blood sugar levels, improve your mood, and treat metabolic syndrome and certain chronic illnesses to optimise your immune health (10)(11).
Unfortunately, not only is more research required into both to prove they can actually produce all these benefits, but the doses present are all but assured to be lower than is required to be of use, given the size of the blend they're in and their optimal dosages.
Nutrient Dense Natural Herbs And Extracts - 2.2 Grams
The Nutrient Dense Natural Herbs And Extracts blend consists of acacia gum, acerola cherry extract, turmeric root, green tea extract, cinnamon bark, eleuthero root, ginger root, enzyme treated stevia extract, mangosteen extract, ashwagandha root, Korean ginseng root, and chlorophyllin.
The blend having acacia gum and acerola cherry at the top is a red flag, as it means they'll be the most abundant ingredients, despite being of little to no use. Other totally useless or unproven ingredients in the blend include cinnamon bark and mangosteen extract.
Turmeric is a proven anti-inflammatory and antioxidant that can neutralise free radicals, prevent oxidative damage, and help maintain healthy bones, cartilage, joints, and organs if you take at least 1,500 mg daily (12).
Green tea contains caffeine and the antioxidant catechin EGCG. It can boost your energy levels and fat burning and metabolic rates, regulate cholesterol, and blood sugar and pressure levels, improve brain and heart functions, relieve stress, and help treat certain illnesses when you consume 800 mg daily (13).
Eleuthero root can enhance physical performance and prevent fatigue when you consume at least 300 mg daily (14).
Ginger root is an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant that prevents oxidative damage, regulates cholesterol, enhances immune and gut health, and increases the bioavailability of the other ingredients (15).
Stevia is a natural, low calorie sweetener, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant. It boosts brain, kidney, liver, and pancreas functions, but can also be toxic and cause health problems (16).
Ashwagandha and Korean ginseng roots boost cognitive and sexual functions, testosterone production, fertility, mental clarity, sleep quality, physical performance, mood and immunity.
They can also regulate blood sugar levels, combat anxiety, chronic fatigue syndrome, and stress, and treat diabetes and fibromyalgia, but only if you take at least 250 mg of each daily (17)(18).
Finally, chlorophyllin may slightly improve gut health (19).
The problem is, even without all the fillers, there isn't enough space in the blend to hold the optimal doses of all these useful ingredients, so the blend as a whole is unlikely to be of use.
Digestive Complex - 674 MG
The Primal Greens Digestive Complex consists of apple fiber, inulin, fungal amylase, fungal protease, glucoamylase, lipase, and cellulase. Looking at these ingredients, there's no other way to describe this blend than a mess.
While inulin is undoubtedly beneficial for digestion, apple fiber, the largest ingredient in the blend, is virtually useless, while most of the top digestive enzymes are absent. Even the digestive enzymes that are there are present in their less than optimal forms.
This means you shouldn't expect to see any benefits to your gut health from taking Primal Greens.
Probiotic Blend - 22.5 MG (3.5 Billion CFU)
The Primal Greens Probiotic Blend probiotics are b. longum, l acidophilus, and l rhamnosus.
These healthy bacteria live in your digestive system and aid digestion, prevent hypertension, combat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and boost brain function in the elderly.
Unfortunately, with at least 10 billion CFU being required of each to be of use, the 3.5 billion CFU the entire blend contains all but guarantees that it'll do you no good.