Greens powders are trendy as replacements for multivitamins, so some companies no longer feel the need to explain any of their product’s benefits. I reviewed the strawberry kiwi flavor of Reds & Greens XT from AI Sports Nutrition, ranked by Bodybuilding.com as one of the top ten bestselling greens supplements on the market. Read on for my thoughts.
(We tried 47 brands: check out our best green superfood powder picks!)
Reds & Greens XT Ingredients
Unlike a lot of greens powders on the market, Reds & Greens XT contains a significant amount of powdered fruit and is more of a pink color, which is presumably a cause for the product’s name. In addition to the standard greens powder ingredients of algae, wheat grass, alfalfa, and green tea leaf extract, it contains more unusual additions like powdered banana, watermelon, mango, papaya, peach, pomegranate, and a variety of berries.
It’s not known how much of each ingredient is contained in a serving, but the first ingredient is apple fruit powder — and the abundance of fruit really makes the product stand out in a crowded market.
Reds & Greens XT Benefits and Effectiveness
Here is where things get very confusing. AI Sports Nutrition’s website — which is full of spelling mistakes, grammar mishaps, and links that 404 — claims that “everyone” can benefit from this product, “particularly people who aren’t able to meet their micro-nutrient (sic) needs from their diet.”
If you want to know why, or how, or which micronutrients it provides, or even how many calories are in a serving, you’re out of luck. For something that claims to be “a comprehensive formula of fruit and vegetable powders to help you supplement your diet,” there is no nutrition information on the box.
There are ingredients, sure, but is this providing me with a decent hit of, say, Vitamin C? What could it replace? Are there any minerals, maybe? There’s no way to know.
It’s true that most greens powders actually aren’t very high in vitamins and minerals and instead provide a big serving of antioxidants and probiotics, which is fine if that’s what they advertise. But Reds & Greens XT doesn’t tell you if it provides vitamins, probiotics, antioxidants, or literally anything.
Frankly, it’s mind-boggling that this is product sells to people who are presumably interested in improving their nutrition.
Taste
OK, it tastes great. Right now the product is only available in strawberry kiwi flavor, and it’s certainly tastier than any other greens powder I’ve tried in that it’s very fruity. For something with no artificial sweeteners or added sugars (there is some stevia in the mix), it’s a pretty impressive feat as far as taste goes. It’s pleasant, but not overpoweringly sweet like a lot of protein powders or BCAAs on the market.
Price
It’s not the cheapest greens supplement, but at forty dollars for thirty servings, or $1.33 a serve, it’s moderately priced. Compare that with $127 for thirty servings of Athletic Greens ($4.23/serving), $35 for fifteen servings of Onnit’s Earth Grown Nutrients ($2.30/serving), $30 for thirty servings of PharmaFreak Greens Freak ($1/serving), $50 for ninety servings of Sun Warrior’s Supergreens ($0.55/serving) and $52 for a hundred serves Amazing Grass’s Green Superfood ($0.52/serving).
Honestly, given the quality of the product and its website, I was surprised that it’s not the cheapest powder on the market.
The Takeaway
Reviews on the site claim that it’s “full of what you need in case you can’t get enough fruits and vegetables into your diet.”
I would like to see any proof that the product provides any nutrition at all. That shouldn’t be a tall order for a nutritional supplement.
I’m not saying there couldn’t possibly be any benefits for a supplement that’s almost entirely comprised of powdered fruits and vegetables. But given that most greens powders contain solely fruits and vegetables and they vary wildly in how much nutrition they provide, the ingredients alone can’t tell us anything. For example, SunWarrior’s blend contains 11 percent of your daily Vitamin C and two billion probiotic bacteria while Athletic Greens contains 700 percent of your Vitamin C and over seven billion probiotic bacteria. Where does Red & Greens XT fall? We don’t know.
Reds & Greens XT
$1.33 Per Serving
Pros
- Very tasty
- Higher in fruit than most greens powders
Cons
- Zero information on macronutrients, vitamins, or minerals
- Overhyped marketing claims
- No probiotics or digestive enzymes