It's no secret that most men and women aren't eating enough greens. People in food deserts, those who cook infrequently, or those who have aversions to vegetables can end up missing out on all of the important vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that they offer.
Greens powder supplements specific for females can help here, but how much they help depends heavily on their formula and quality, as well as what you're doing besides just taking a supplement (eating healthy, exercising, etc.). Taste can also be a factor, especially for people who experience food aversions.
Opti-Greens 50 and Bloom Greens both offer a convenient way for you to get the benefits of incorporating more greens in your diet. I'll do a brief overview of each product, their formula, provide my pros and cons, and then I'll compare both Bloom and Opti-Greens 50 with specific criteria.
I believe in healthy eating and consistent exercise to live your healthiest life. While a greens powder can help you supplement your diet, you should also incorporate a healthy eating habits and fitness to get the full benefits.
Overview of Opti-Greens 50
Opti-Greens 50 is a "green superfood powder." It's not just greens, either -- this supplement is intended as an all-around way to support your gut health and get important phytonutrients like antioxidants.
This supplement is processed at low temperatures, to help preserve compounds that are broken down by heat. It also includes probiotics and digestive enzymes. With only 30 calories per packet and no added sugars, it's a simple way to fit more green foods into your diet.
The Formula
Opti-Greens 50 has a fairly complex formula. It starts out with a green superfood complex made up of dehydrated barley grass, spirulina, wheatgrass, alfalfa, oat grass, kale, spinach, parsley, and broccoli extract.
Next is there "glycemic balance blend." This is a combination of soluble rice bran, stevia, grape seed, alpha lipoic acid, cinnamon bark, and green tea leaf extract.
This is followed by an phytonutrient complex with organic beet, raspberry, curcumin (from turmeric root), citrus bioflavonoids, wild blueberry, strawberry, cranberry, bilberry, elderberry, and raspberry seed.
After that is a blend of amylase, protease, and other digestive enzymes, and a probiotic blend of Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. bulgaricus, L. plantarum, L. rhamnosus, L. salivarius, L. reuteri, Bifidobacterium bifidum, B. longum, and Streptococcus thermophilus.
The remainder of the ingredients are natural flavors, xanthan gum, guar gum, and salt.
Pros
This formula seems pretty well filled out. There's an abundance of different greens, plenty of antioxidant fruits and vegetables, and the benefit of the digestive enzymes and probiotics. While no supplement will ever be able to replace having a varied, complete diet based on whole foods, this can definitely help fill in some gaps for people who find it challenging to eat well.
Cons
Turmeric and turmeric extracts are generally used much more effectively by the body when they're paired with piperine from black pepper. Piperine can enhance the absorption of curcumin by up to 2,000%, so it would've been nice to see some black pepper extract included along with the curcumin. There's also some evidence that piperine may help increase the growth of beneficial bacteria in the intestines.
This formula also doesn't give a species name for their cinnamon bark. There are two plants that are commonly named "cinnamon" and used for their medicinal and culinary properties: Ceylon cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum, also known as "true cinnamon" and cassia cinnamon (Cinnamomum aromaticum). While both of these have been shown to have health benefits when it comes to stabilizing blood sugar and improving insulin response, C. aromaticum contains more of a compound called coumarin. Consuming large amounts of coumarin over time may negatively impact the liver. While it's highly unlikely that Opti-Greens 50 contains enough cinnamon extract for that to be a major concern, it may be an issue for people who also use cinnamon supplements. It would be helpful to know exactly what species of cinnamon they use in their formula.
We also compared Opti-Greens 50 to Athletic Greens (AG1), so if you're interested in seeing how Opti-Greens 50 stacks up to one of the most popular greens supplements, you'll want to check that out.
Cost and Where to Buy
You can purchase Opti-Greens 50 from 1st phorm's website. Each container provides roughly a month's worth of servings, and costs $69.99. If you subscribe to receive regular deliveries, you can save 14.29% and receive a month's supply for just $59.99 instead.
Overview of Bloom Greens
Bloom Greens is a blend of green superfoods, fiber, antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables, digestive enzymes, pre- and probiotics, and herbs known as "adaptogens."
Adaptogens are a class of herbal remedy that are used to help the body adapt. They are frequently employed to mitigate the effects of stress, fatigue, anxiety, and other factors that are hard on your physical and mental health. In addition to the nutritional, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory benefits of the greens, fruits, and vegetables, Bloom Greens's adaptogenic herbs may help your overall wellbeing.
The Formula
Like Opti-Greens 50, Bloom Greens' ingredient list is pretty extensive. It opens with a blend of fibers from chicory root, flax seed, and apple fruit.
Next is their green superfood blend, consisting of organic barley grass, spirulina, wheatgrass, alfalfa leaf, and chlorella algae.
This is followed by a blend of pre- and probiotics. There's inulin from blue agave, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, and L. acidophilus.
Next is their fruit and vegetable blend, with organic carrot, beet root, kale leaf, blueberry, spinach, broccoli, and an extract of ginger root. This is separate from their antioxidant beauty blend, which also contains fruits and herbal ingredients like cranberry, strawberry, raspberry, tart cherry, elderberry, acai berry, goji berry, horseradish tree leaf, grape seed, and matcha.
Finally, the formula is rounded out by a blend of digestive enzymes and adaptogens. Their adaptogen blend contains licorice, rhodiola, American ginseng, ashwagandha, astragalus, and eleuthero.
Pros
It's nice to see a supplement that combines probiotics with prebiotics. While a good diet should provide all of the fiber that probiotic bacteria need to thrive, not everyone gets what they need from their regular diet. Prebiotic fiber can help.
It's also interesting to see the inclusion of so many antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables. Both the fruit and vegetable blend and antioxidant beauty blend have a pretty varied list of ingredients.
The inclusion of adaptogens may also be helpful to some users. The National Institutes for Health acknowledges that using adaptogens may help with stress relief, though these herbs generally aren't widely recommended outside of alternative medicine.
Lastly, it's also nice to see that Bloom Greens' ingredient list gives an actual milligram-by-milligram breakdown of how much of each blend goes into the final product.
Cons
It would've been nice to see a wider variety of probiotics in this blend. There are only three strains here -- one Bifidobacterium and two species of Lactobacillus.
The ingredient list also doesn't specify whether the licorice root in the adaptogenic blend is deglycyrrhizinated or not. Licorice root naturally contains a compound called glycyrrhizin that can cause an increase in blood pressure. While this generally isn't a problem in otherwise healthy individuals, preexisting health conditions or long term consumption of large amounts of licorice root can increase blood pressure to dangerous levels.
You may also find our Bloom Greens vs Athletic Greens and Primal Greens to be very interesting, and see how Bloom stacks up to other similar greens powders.
Cost and Where to Buy
You can purchase Bloom Greens from the company's website. A 30-day supply costs $39.99, while a 60-day supply will run $79.99. You can also choose to subscribe to regular monthly deliveries and save 10%. You can also buy Bloom at amazon.
Comparing Formulas
Both Opti-Greens 50 and Bloom Greens have pretty solid formulas with their own pros and cons. Opti-Greens 50 contains a wider variety of greens and probiotics, and their formula appears to emphasize healthy blood sugar. Bloom Greens has a wider variety of fruits and vegetables, as well as their adaptogenic herbal blend, and their formula appears to emphasize its antioxidant content and digestive health benefits.
Comparing Taste
Both Opti-Greens 50 and Bloom Greens are available in a naturally flavored berry formula that's described as tasting like a light fruit juice.
If berry isn't your bag, Bloom Greens is also available in coconut, citrus, mango, and original flavors.
Comparing Cost and Overall Value
Of the two, Bloom Greens is less expensive. Per serving, Bloom Greens is about $1.33 per day if you make a one-time purchase, or $1.20 per day if you choose to subscribe and save. Opti-Greens 50 is about $2.33 per day for a one-time purchase, or about $2.00 if you subscribe.
If cost is a factor for you, Bloom Greens may provide a better overall value.
Main Differences Between Opti Greens 50 and Bloom Greens
The main differences between Opti-Greens 50 and Bloom Greens lie in what they've chosen to include or exclude from their ingredients. Both of them are well-rounded superfood supplements, just in slightly different ways.
As mentioned above, Opti-Greens 50's formula doesn't just emphasize its superfood and phytonutrient content, it also includes a glycemic balance blend to help promote stable blood sugar. Bloom Greens places more emphasis on its digestive health benefits. Considering the name "antioxidant beauty blend" in its ingredient list, Bloom Greens also appears targeted toward skin health.
Bloom Greens' packaging also doesn't describe its production process, while Opti-Greens 50 specifically mentions using low temperatures to process ingredients.
Which is Better: Bloom Greens or Opti-Greens 50?
Ultimately, both supplements are pretty much neck-and-neck. Their formulas start out with a solid base of fruits, vegetables, and greens, and go on to build on that in different ways.
Opti-Greens 50 may have a slight advantage, because its low temperature process could help preserve more of the temperature-sensitive compounds in its ingredients. Since Bloom Greens doesn't describe its production methods, it's unclear whether Opti-Greens 50 comes out ahead here.
If you feel that you'd benefit from including adaptogens and a special antioxidant beauty blend, you may want to try out Bloom Greens. If you'd prefer more beneficial bacteria and herbs to help control blood sugar in your diet, you may want to give Opti-Greens 50 a shot instead.
I'll Leave You With This Adivce
There's no substitute for a complete diet based on a variety of whole foods, but supplements can help. If you think you'd benefit from the ingredients in Opti-Greens 50 or Bloom Greens, give them a try. That said, it's important to recognize that supplements can't take the place of medical treatment. If you're experiencing severe fatigue, anxiety, uncontrolled blood sugar, or other health issues, please consult a doctor before adding any supplement to your diet.
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Just taking a greens powder supplement doesn't necessarily mean you're getting all the proper nutrients, vitamins and minerals that your body needs. I do believe that these are some of the best supplements to take because of their formulas. However, you can take your nutrition to the next level by eating healthy foods and sticking to a challenging exercise program on a daily basis.
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