Want to find the best greens powder for you? Not sure if Opti Greens is what you're looking for, then check out our list of the best on the market in 2023.
Best Super Greens
Organic Alfalfa Grass
Alfalfa grass is a leafy green grass that's commonly put in greens powders due to the presence of an antioxidant known as pinitol. A chemical that's been shown to enhance liver, kidney, and digestive system functions, it's very useful to improve your overall gut health.
However, these benefits have only ever been seen when consuming fresh alfalfa grass, rather than the powdered form, and in doses far greater than are likely present here (1). This means its inclusion in Opti Greens 50 is highly unlikely to be of use.
Organic Barley Grass
Barley grass is a grass and cereal grain that's been used to make things like beer and bread for centuries. Its extract is full of nutrients and offers various benefits, like boosting heart health, increasing fat loss, and lowering cholesterol and blood sugar levels (2).
This is a rare case where it's possible Opti Greens 50 actually contains a sufficient dose of a proven ingredient. That said, with the use of its proprietary blends, there's simply no way to know if this is actually the case.
Organic Kale
Kale is a type of leafy cabbage that can be either green or purple in colour. One of the most popular leafy vegetables on Earth, it's rich in various phytochemicals, vitamins, and minerals and has been widely consumed for centuries.
It's considered a superfood due to the incredible range of health benefits that it can offer, which includes reducing LDL cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease (3). The problem is, you must consume 5 to 10 grams of kale per day to achieve these effects.
As the entire Green Superfood Complex weighs just over 6 grams, contains 9 ingredients, and doesn't list kale first, even the use of a proprietary blend isn't enough to hide the fact there simply isn't enough present in Opti Greens 50 to be of use.
Organic Oat Grass
Oat grass is becoming an increasingly popular greens powder ingredient due to claims that it's rich in fibre, protein, vitamins, and minerals, and improves your skin and digestive health and promotes a healthy immune system.
Unfortunately, there's been very little study on it and no conclusive evidence produced to back up these claims, so its inclusion in Opti Greens 50 can't be counted on to produce any positive effects (4).
Organic Parsley
Parsley is often found in herbal powders and is slowly creeping in to greens powders too.
It's high in a range of antioxidants and essential nutrients, and is said to offer benefits like boosting eye, bone, and heart health and promoting a strong immune system that can fight off bacteria, diseases, and viruses more easily.
However, while these claims are true of the parsley plant itself, the same cannot be said of the powdered extract (5). When used in this form and dosages, the evidence instead suggests it'll likely do nothing more than take up space.
Organic Spinach
Spinach is a leafy green vegetable that's very similar to kale, although perhaps even more popular, and is rich in an even wider range fibres, minerals, proteins, and vitamins.
It's commonly added to greens supplements to provide health benefits like enhancing your vision and blood pressure levels and reducing oxidative stress, anxiety, and stress (6).
The problem yet again though, is that Opti Greens hide the quantity of spinach present in the Green Superfood Complex. This makes it impossible to know if enough is present to be useful.
Organic Spirulina
Spirulina is a blue green algae that's full of antioxidants, fatty acids, protein, vitamins, and minerals and offers various health benefits.
It's a popular inclusion in weight loss and green supplements as it can fight free radicals, prevent oxidative damage, lower blood pressure and blood sugar, reduce inflammation, improve heart health and metabolism, and suppresses your appetite (7).
Unfortunately, these benefits are only produced when you consume a minimum of 8 grams of spirulina per day. As the entire Green Superfood Complex weighs less than that, we can again see the dosage present in Opti Greens 50 will do nothing.
Organic Wheatgrass
Wheatgrass is the new sprouts you find on the wheat plant and studies shown that it's both low in calories and high in antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins a, b, c, e, and k (8).
The are claims it can prevent oxidative damage and inflammation, reduce LDL cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease, and treat arthritis and some other diseases.
The issue is, none of these benefits has been conclusively proven, meaning its inclusion in Opti Greens 50 may serve no purpose.
Broccoli Extract
Broccoli is a widely consumed brassica vegetable that's known for being incredibly beneficial to your health. The dehydrated extract of the broccoli plant has begun to be put in some greens powders, as there are claims it can slightly reduce your LDL cholesterol levels (9).
The issue is broccoli's effect on your cholesterol levels is minimal and its extract has never been proven to offer any other benefits. Throw in the miniscule dose that's likely present and there's every chance it does nothing more than take up space in the Opti Greens 50 formula.
Glycemic Balance Blend - 2,224 MG
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Alpha lipoic acid is an organic compound similar to a fatty acid that's full of antioxidants. It is naturally produced in cells throughout the human body, as well as in foods like bread, green vegetables, potatoes, whole grains, and organ meats like liver or kidneys.
It's been shown to be a useful supplement, as it can help the body convert glucose into energy more effectively and prevent free radicals from causing inflammation and cell damage.
With 600 mg of alpha lipoic acid required to produce these effects to an optimal level, it is possible that Opti Greens 50 contains enough to be of use (10). However, as the Glycemic Balance Blend hides the exact dosage, it's impossible to know this for certain.
Cinnamon Extract
Cinnamon is a powdered spice created by blending a variety of herbs and nutrients together. It is included in the Glycemic Balance Blend as it's said to regulate both glucose metabolism and cholesterol levels, which can help treat diabetes.
Unfortunately, 1,000 to 6,000 mg of cinnamon is required to produce these effects (11). So, while we know there can't possibly be enough in Opti Greens 50 for it to work at an optimal level, there may not even be enough present for it to do anything at all.
Grape Seed Extract
Grape seed extract is full of antioxidants, catechins, and polyphenols, which are all proven to have anti inflammatory properties. There are also claims it can improve your circulation and immune system and inhibit the production of oestrogen.
The problem is, there's very little evidence to support any of these claims, meaning its presence in Opti Greens 50 may serve absolutely no purpose (12).
Green Tea Extract
Green tea extract is a great source of caffeine and a catechin called EGCG, which is a type of antioxidant.
It's proven to enhance metabolism, fat burning, and energy levels, provide cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar regulation, improve brain and heart functions, relieve stress, and help treat certain illnesses (13).
The problem is, 800 mg of green tea must be consumed each day to produce these effects. While Opti Greens have done their best to hide the dosage present, the size of the blend and green tea's position in it enable us to work out that there simply isn't a sufficient dose present.
Soluble Rice Bran
Soluble rice bran is an oil produced by boiling rice at extremely high temperatures. A great source of healthy fats, it can help your body produce a healthy glycemic response, reducing your cholesterol levels and risk of developing either diabetes or heart disease (14).
Unfortunately, it's estimated that you must consume at least 12 grams of rice bran per day to produce these effects. As this is far greater than the entire Glycemic Blend, the amount present in Opti Greens 50 simply won't have any effect.
Stevia
Stevia is a natural, low calorie sweetener that can sweeten a greens supplement without spiking your blood sugar like normal sugar would. It is also an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory and can boost brain, kidney, liver, and pancreas functions.
However, there is also evidence that it can be toxic and cause infertility and other health issues. This means its inclusion in Opti Greens 50 may actually do more harm than good (15).
Phytonutrient Complex - 430 MG
The Opti Green 50 Phytonutrient Complex contains cranberry extract, elderberry extract, organic beet juice, organic turmeric root, raspberry and raspberry seed powder, strawberry extract, wild bilberry extract, wild blueberry extract, and citrus containing bioflavonoids.
Turmeric has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can neutralise free radicals and prevent oxidative damage (16). Beet juice can reduce your blood pressure and boost your energy levels, exercise performance, and stamina (17).
Berries are full of antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins, and offer benefits like boosting bone, brain, eye, heart, skin, and gut health, reducing inflammation, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels, and improving your energy, stamina, and immune system (18).
While bilberry extract, elderberry extract, and bioflavonoids admittedly have little evidence to support their inclusion, this is far from the biggest issue with the Phytonutrient Complex.
The real issue is, as most of the individual ingredients need between 100 and 500 mg to be ingested each day to be of use and the entire blend weighs just 430 mg, almost all of them will do nothing
Plant Enzyme Blend - 200 MG
The Opti Greens 50 Plant Enzyme Blend weighs 200 mg and features the digestive enzymes AMLA, amylases, lipase, proteases, cellulase, lactase, maltase, invertase, peptidase, bromelain, papain, rutin, hemiSEB, and peptizyme-sp.
Most of these plant enzymes benefit digestive health, but the blend omits one of the 7 top digestive enzymes, sucrase, and replaces it with less proven or effective options.
The real issue though, is the dosages. With 200 mg being well below the 500 mg recommended daily intake of digestive enzymes and all the individual components having their doses hidden, you can't count on Opti Greens 50 to truly improve your gut health (19).
Probiotic Blend - 1 Billion CFU
The Opti Greens 50 Probiotic Blend uses a range of healthy bacteria that includes b. bifidum, b. longum, l. acidophilus, l. bulgaricus, l. plantarum, l. reuteri, l. rhamnosus, l. salivarius, and s. thermophilus.
When used in the right doses, these can treat digestive issues, diarrhoea, and abdominal pain (20). As with virtually everything else in Opti Greens 50 though, that is again the issue.
With 10 to 30 billon daily CFU (colony forming units) of each digestive enzyme being required for optimal effects, the 1 billion the entire Opti Greens 50 Probiotic Blend weighs is essentially worthless.