Want to find the best greens powder for you? Not sure if Smarter Greens is what you're looking for, then check out our list of the best on the market in 2023.
Best Super Greens
Greens & Vegetable Superfoods Blend - 9,000 MG
The greens and vegetables blend is, by far, the largest part of the Force Factor Smarter Greens Superfoods Powder formula, in weight as well as the number of ingredients that it contains, as it features a whopping 24 different greens and vegetables.
It has brown rice protein concentrate, wheatgrass powder (aerial parts), barley grass powder (aerial parts), quinoa powder, chia seed powder, green tea leaf extract, onion bulb extract, broccoli concentrate, turmeric concentrate, garlic clove concentrate, basil leaf concentrate, oregano leaf concentrate, cinnamon bark concentrate, carrot root concentrate, spinach leaf concentrate, kale leaf concentrate, Brussels sprout concentrate, sunflower seed powder, flax seed powder, lentil sprout powder, alfalfa sprout powder, aloe vera powder (leaf), African plum tree extract (aerial parts), and sweet potato root powder.
While, on the surface, containing all the nutrients that it does looks amazing, people who have studied greens powders will know that it usually also means that each is present in such a small dose that it simply won't be able to be of much use. We can also assume that the rice protein, which isn't really good for anything here, has to make up at least 2500mg of the blend, most likely closer to 3000 due to Smarter Greens protein content, with the rest coming from quinoa and chia, but they're looking likely to be less than 1000mg combined. Realistically you're probably getting about 2000mg of weatgrass and something similar of barely. Two of the cheapest ingredients in greens powders, and the lower end of nutritional content. Generally you want to look for ingredients like spirulina, kale, collards or spinach to be at the top of the ingredients list, with grasses making the smallest amount of the blend as these have a lot more health benefits to offer.
Then there is the fact that all of the ingredients are lumped together in a proprietary blend, which is always a red flag as it hides the ingredient dosages and is usually used as a way to try and mask the fact that a supplement is not well made.
You combine these two facts together and it is already looking highly doubtful that Force Factor Smarter Greens will be of much use before we have even started our more detailed analysis.
Then we get to the actual ingredients themselves.
While there are some that will support digestion, immunity & nitric oxide production like the label suggests, such as the green tea and brown rice protein, the greens blend is also full of ingredients that have no proof they will do anything, like carrot concentrate, sweet potato powder, or African plum tree extract (1)(2).
While this is never ideal, throwing them all together in a massive blend with no dosages listed of anything all but guarantees that not only will they not do you any good, but that the company is likely well aware of this and is hiding the information to sell you a cheaply made and ineffective product. If you're just looking for something to boost nitric oxide production, you'd be better off with a reds powder (with beets as the main ingredients).
Prebiotic Fiber & Fruit Superfoods Blend - 2,000 MG
The second largest blend in the Force Factor Smarter Greens Superfoods Powder formula includes premium probiotics and various fruits, which amounts to 23 different fruits and prebiotics in total.
It uses FiberSMART organic tapioca fiber, fructooligosaccharides (FOS) from inulin, coffea arabica extract (whole fruit), apple fruit extract, quercetin, camu camu fruit concentrate, tomato fruit concentrate, acerola fruit extract, acai fruit concentrate, elderberry fruit concentrate, mangosteen fruit concentrate, blueberry fruit extract, blackcurrant fruit extract, sweet cherry fruit concentrate, raspberry concentrate, chokeberry fruit concentrate, blackberry fruit concentrate, bilberry fruit extract, banana fruit powder, pineapple fruit powder, pumpkin fruit powder, goji berry root powder, and grape seed extract.
The inulin and tapioca fiber can indeed support blood flow, to supply the essential vitamins and minerals the body craves to keep the digestive system healthy (3). Having them listed fist in the blend is also somewhat promising, as it means they will be the most abundant ingredients present. That said, tapioca isn't what anyone is looking for in a greens powder.
The problem is the range of fruits present. While most are indeed rich in essential vitamins and minerals, many have only ever been shown to be capable of benefitting your health if you consume the fresh fruits themselves or take massive doses of their concentrates.
What's more, the sheer number present in a blend that isn't that heavy to begin with means that only tiny amounts of both them and the fibres will be present. This not only ensures that the fruits won't do you any good, but also makes it highly likely that the fibres present in Smarter Greens will be of no use as well.
Probiotic Enzyme Blend - 50 MG
The Force Factor Smarter Greens Superfoods Powder Probiotic Enzyme Blend features a combination of digestive enzymes that includes protease, amylase, papain, bromelain, lactase, and the patented LactoSpore Probiotics bacillus coagulans.
Digestive enzymes are undoubtedly a great way to help you achieve better digestion and gut health, as are the LactoSpore probiotics. However, they do not all have the exact same effects or level of efficacy.
While the digestive enzymes listed here are indeed all beneficial, the blend also misses four of the seven most important ones, which are cellulase, lipase, maltase, sucrase. They then include just a single probiotic, which is listed at the very bottom of the blend.
What's more, the recommended dosage of individual digestive enzymes is usually hundreds of milligrams per day, while the entire Force Factor Smarter Greens Probiotic Enzyme Blend weighs just 50 mg (4).
The probiotics, meanwhile, should be listed in CFU (colony forming units), rather than mg, so we have no idea what they will be capable of doing here (5).
Put all of this together, and the Smarter Greens Probiotic Enzymes Blend just isn't going to give you the daily boost to your gut health that you are hoping.
Bioavailability Enhancement Matrix - 5 MG
The final blend in the Force Factor Smarter Greens Superfoods Powder formula is the Bioavailability Enhancement Matrix, which consists of just two ingredients, BioPerine Black Pepper Fruit Extract and red bell pepper fruit powder.
Black pepper extract contains a compound called piperine, which is what gives black pepper its pungent taste, and it can offer health benefits such as reducing inflammation and aiding weight loss.
It is also often put in supplements as it is a bioavailability enhancer, which means that it makes the other ingredients present easier to absorb and more effective.
Red bell pepper fruit powder contains capsaicin, which is cost commonly found in cayenne pepper. While it serves the same functions as black pepper, it is more effective at boosting your metabolism, burning fat, and reducing inflammation, while not being quite as effective when it comes to bioavailability enhancement.
The problem is, you need to take a minimum of 20 mg of black pepper fruit extract and and 30 mg of red bell pepper fruit powder per day to see these benefits (6)(7).
As Force Factor Smarter Greens contains just 5 mg of these two pepper extracts combined, it is simply far too weak to be able to do anything at all, let alone promote enhanced absorption of the other ingredients.
Other Ingredients
Beyond its key active ingredients, Force Factor Smarter Greens Superfoods Powder also contains a range of other ingredients that includes a Gum Blend of cellulose gum, xanthan gum, and carrageenan, natural flavours, stevia, and monk fruit.
These ingredients have been included solely to improve the taste and texture of the product, rather than to boost your daily nutrition or provide any health benefits. However, given the customer reviews of the product that we are about to examine, the less said about them the better.
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