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If you've heard a podcast advert, seen a gym influencer stir a bright green drink or noticed tubs of "super greens" at Boots, you've met greens powder. It's also one of the more expensive daily habits on the health shelf: at AG1's subscription price, a year of scoops costs more than £1,000. Before you spend on one, it helps to know what it actually is.
What is a greens powder?
A greens powder is dried, ground-up plants that you stir into water or a smoothie. The base is usually leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale, cereal grasses such as wheatgrass and barley grass, and algae such as spirulina and chlorella. Many brands then add a multivitamin, probiotics (friendly gut bacteria), mushroom extracts or gym supplements like creatine. One scoop is typically 5g to 13g, made up as one drink a day.
Most tubs are built on the same handful of powders, from the bright grass-green of wheatgrass to the near-black of chlorella.
Why is everyone talking about it?
Mostly because of AG1, the brand formerly called Athletic Greens, which built its name on podcasts. Podscribe, which tracks podcast advertising, found AG1 ads on almost 11,000 episodes of more than 700 podcasts in two years, and estimated it had spent more than $27 million on them since 2022, more than any other supplement brand (Fortune, January 2025). Tim Ferriss was an early investor, and Huberman Lab still lists AG1 as a sponsor. AG1 told Fortune it expected $600 million of sales in 2024, and its UK company alone turned over £19.4 million in the year to March 2025 (Companies House).
In the UK, "AG1" is searched about 22,000 times a month and "greens powder" about 2,900 (Google Keyword Planner, October 2026). Huel, Bloom and a wave of smaller UK brands, including 
Why should you care what's in the tub?
Two reasons. The first is the price: a daily scoop costs from well under £1 to more than £3, which is roughly £20 to £97 a month, every month.
The second is the promise. Most people buy greens powder to make up for not eating enough vegetables, and the gap is real: only 17% of UK adults eat their 5 A Day, and just 4% get the recommended 30g of fibre (National Diet and Nutrition Survey, 2019 to 2023). A powder can't close it. It doesn't count towards your 5 A Day, and an 80g portion of frozen spinach costs about 15p at Tesco, against £1.67 for a scoop of the mid-priced powders. Many tubs also list a "superfood blend" without saying how much of anything is in it.
The short answer: 
RhealRheal SuperfoodsRheal sells powdered superfood blends for everyday routines, from gut and hydration mixes to greens and a beauty-focused berry powder. The range is built around simple daily use raBuying guide · View store → is the simplest and cheapest at about £1 a scoop, Huel Daily Greens packs in the most added vitamins, AG1 is the best known and the most expensive, and
The greens powders side by side
The comparison below sets a serving of each against the others, using the brands' own UK prices in October 2026. "Doses printed" means the label gives the amount of each ingredient, not just a blend total.
Five greens powders, serving for serving
Compare side by side. Scroll across to see every option.
| What matters |  Lean Greens Collagen Greens, 33 servings |  Huel Daily Greens, 30 servings |  AG1 Daily Foundational Nutrition, 30 servings |  Healthspan Elite All Blacks Performance Greens, 300g |  Rheal Organic Clean Greens, 30 servings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who it suits | For someone who would otherwise buy greens, creatine and collagen separately, and wants every dose on the label. | For someone who wants a multivitamin and greens in one drink and doesn't take either already. | A multivitamin, plant powders and five probiotic strains in one drink, at the highest price here. | For drug-tested athletes who want plain greens with nothing added: Informed Sport screens each batch for banned substances. | Eight organic plant and algae powders with no sweetener, for the plainest, cheapest daily scoop. |
| Serving | 12.6g | 8.5g | 13g | 10g | 5g |
| Price per serving | £1.67 one-off, £1.42 monthly, £1.21 on the three-pack plan | £1.67 one-off, £1.50 on subscription | £3.23 one-off, £2.63 on subscription (every four weeks) | £1.27 one-off, £1.13 on subscription | £1.00 one-off, 80p on subscription |
| Doses printed | Yes, all 16 ingredients | Vitamins, minerals and probiotics yes; plant and mushroom blends no | Vitamins, minerals and probiotics yes; botanicals no | Only the kiwi extract (300mg) | No |
| Added vitamins | None | Yes, a full A to Z (46µg vitamin D, 900µg vitamin A) | Yes (420mg vitamin C, 50µg B12, 10mg zinc) | None | None |
| Extras | 4g creatine, 4g collagen, digestive enzymes | Two probiotic strains, mushroom and adaptogen blend | Five probiotic strains; Informed Sport certified, says AG1 | Informed Sport; kiwi digestive enzyme; no sweeteners | Certified organic; no sweetener |
| Vegan | No (bovine collagen) | Yes | Yes | Yes | All plant and algae ingredients |
| Price & retailer | £55.00Lean GreensChecked 11 OctView product | £50.00HuelChecked 11 OctView product | £97.00AG1Checked 11 OctView product | £37.99HealthspanChecked 11 OctView product | £30.00RhealChecked 11 OctView product |
Check the exact model, availability and delivery at the retailer. Prices are shown for seven days after a check.
Bloom Greens & Superfoods, the other tub you'll see on the high street, is £25 for 30 servings at Holland & Barrett (£20 on offer in October 2026). It's further down, because it's really a different drink.
Before the detail, a quick question about where your greens come from now. I'll share what readers say once enough people have answered.
Does a greens powder count towards your 5 A Day?
No. The NHS guide to what counts covers 80g of fresh, frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables, 30g of dried fruit, pulses, and up to 150ml of juice or smoothie a day. Powders aren't on it, and the advertising regulator has ruled that a greens powder can't claim to count. In 2024 the ASA also upheld complaints against an ad implying Huel Daily Greens was as good as eating green vegetables.
The difference is easiest to see side by side: a level scoop of powder holds a few grams of dried plants, and a single portion of the real thing is 80g.
ConsumerLab, a US company that buys and tests supplements, has done the sums. Five portions of produce weigh about 500g and dry down to about 50g, while a serving of these products is 2g to 10g, so at best a scoop replaces about a fifth of a day's fruit and veg, with 1g to 2g of fibre. Its founder, Tod Cooperman, explains it in two minutes.
The freezer aisle makes the same point on price. In October 2026 an 80g portion of own-brand frozen spinach cost about 14p at Sainsbury's and Morrisons, and a portion of frozen broccoli florets about 9.5p at Tesco, so a week of greens from the freezer costs less than one scoop of most powders. That 80g of broccoli also carries about 3.2g of fibre (McCance and Widdowson's food tables), more than any scoop here.
Dr Rupy Aujla, the UK doctor behind The Doctor's Kitchen, lands in the same place. In his 2025 run-through of the supplements he recommends, he rates greens powders "try", but only a transparent one as a backup for travelling or busy weeks, and suggests a frozen spinach and berry smoothie as the cheaper everyday option (about eight minutes in).
The same verdict turns up without the lab. The top reply in a 2023 r/nutrition thread asking whether greens powders are a fad says a powder isn't harmful, but real vegetables in the smoothie would be cheaper, and the replies below it swap ways of blending frozen spinach into a morning drink.
That sets the honest case for a greens powder. It's a convenient way to get some plant powders and, depending on the brand, a dose of added vitamins, creatine or probiotics into a drink. It isn't a substitute for vegetables, and the fibre in a scoop (under 1g to about 3g in these) is a small fraction of what a plate of greens gives.
The best defence of powders I've read on Reddit is about time rather than nutrition. Replying to a critic who saw no reason to pay a premium for powdered vegetables, one r/PeterAttia commenter argued that fresh vegetables rot and need storing, and that a scoop saves the hassle.
What does the research actually show?
Less than the advertising suggests, and most of it is paid for by the companies selling the powders. I couldn't find a single systematic review of greens powders as a category.
AG1's own studies are small. Its main placebo trial followed 30 people for four weeks: the probiotic strains in the powder turned up in their gut, while the change in a digestion score fell just short of statistical significance (Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2024). A 2026 trial in 20 trained adults found AG1 filled more nutrient gaps than a placebo but didn't change gut diversity or digestion (Frontiers in Nutrition). AG1 funded both. Much of the rest is on Juice Plus capsules, mostly funded by their maker, with mixed results: a Yale trial in 64 people with metabolic syndrome found no effect on blood vessels, blood sugar, cholesterol or weight (Nutrition Journal, 2011).
The strongest independent evidence is for one ingredient on its own. A University of Plymouth review of 29 trials and 1,583 people found spirulina lowered systolic blood pressure by about 5mmHg, but the benefit needed more than 3g a day for at least 12 weeks (Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 2025). Few powders say how much spirulina they hold, and the ones that do, such as Collagen Greens with 303mg, carry about a tenth of that. That's the trade-off of a blend: many ingredients, each at a small dose.
Plenty of users report the same quiet result. In a 2024 r/Huel thread, a UK reader two months into Daily Greens, on a fairly balanced diet, said they'd noticed no difference in energy, skin or digestion; the replies suggested that on a decent diet you may already be getting what it adds.
What's actually in a scoop?
The label matters more than the marketing. Four things are worth reading on any tub.
Whether the doses are printed. Many powders list a "superfood blend" with one total weight, so you can't tell whether there's a lot of spinach and a pinch of everything else. Lean Greens prints every one of its 16 ingredients in milligrams. Huel and AG1 give exact amounts for their vitamins, minerals and probiotics, but not for their plant and mushroom blends. Rheal and Bloom give none.
Dietitian Katey Davidson shows why that matters by working through Bloom's US label blend by blend: its adaptogen blend is 100mg spread across six ingredients, where studies of ashwagandha alone use around 300mg to 500mg (from about ten minutes in).
The order of the ingredients. UK labels list ingredients from heaviest to lightest (food information rules, Article 18), so the first few tell you what you're mostly drinking. A tub that opens with a fibre or a sweetener isn't mostly greens.
Added vitamins and minerals. Huel and AG1 add a full multivitamin; the others add none, or almost none. That's useful if you want one, and a reason for care if you already take supplements. Huel's 8.5g serving has 46µg of vitamin D and 900µg of vitamin A. The NHS advises adults not to take more than 100µg of vitamin D a day, and to keep vitamin A from food and supplements under 1.5mg a day. Stacking a vitamin-heavy greens powder on top of a multivitamin can get closer to those limits than people expect.
What else is in it, and what it can claim. Creatine, collagen, probiotics, mushrooms and adaptogens such as ashwagandha turn up in some blends and not others. Each changes who the powder suits, and the price. Only some are allowed health claims in the UK: creatine has one, while collagen and probiotics have none, beyond live yoghurt cultures helping to digest the lactose in yoghurt (GB nutrition and health claims register).
Do greens powders contain heavy metals?
Sometimes, and it's the question most buyers never think to ask. ConsumerLab's current review of 24 fruit, vegetable and greens supplements sold in the US found lead in several, and says nine shouldn't be used regularly by children or pregnant women (ConsumerLab, updated September 2026). In September 2026 it reported that it had again found "a significant amount of lead" in AG1; the amounts are for its members. Those are US products, and I haven't found a UK test of the same kind.
In Great Britain, supplements must stay under legal limits for lead, cadmium and mercury (maximum levels for contaminants). Third-party certificates are the other check, and the two you'll see on UK tubs test different things. Informed Sport, which 
HealthspanHealthspanHealthspan sells vitamins, minerals, herbal supplements, sports nutrition and pet supplements direct to customers. It has been trading since 1996 and ships free within the UK on su8 current offers · View store → uses and AG1 says it uses, screens every batch for more than 285 substances banned in sport; its published process doesn't cover heavy metals or whether the label matches the contents. NSF Certified for Sport does check contaminants and label accuracy, but AG1's NSF listings are for US stock.
Which greens powder suits whom?
The powders differ less in how green they are than in what they add and how much they tell you. These are the ones I'd look at first, and what each does best.
Creatine and collagen in one drink: Lean Greens
The creatine is the part with the strongest footing. Creatine is one of the few supplements with an authorised health claim in the UK's nutrition and health claims register: taken at 3g a day, it can improve physical performance in short bursts of high-intensity exercise. At 4g a serving, Collagen Greens covers that dose. In food terms, a normal diet supplies 1g to 2g of creatine a day, and a pound of raw beef or salmon holds about 1g to 2g (International Society of Sports Nutrition), so a scoop holds roughly what you'd get from one to two kilos of raw meat or fish. Vegetarians start with lower stores in their muscles. The collagen doesn't carry an approved claim.
That's the idea behind the formula: three things people often buy as separate tubs, in one scoop.
For anyone new to creatine, Dr Christy Risinger's six-minute explainer covers the 3g to 5g daily dose, who benefits most and why third-party testing matters.
Tim Goodwin introduces the powder himself in Lean Greens' own short video, including how he drinks it: a scoop shaken into ice-cold water and finished quickly, with the pouch kept by the kettle so it becomes a habit.
Lean Greens doesn't run discount codes, so the price per serving depends on how you buy. These are its own prices in October 2026, for packs of 33 servings.
| How you buy | Price | Per serving | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| One pack | £55 | £1.67 | £4.99 |
| Two packs | £99 | £1.50 | Free |
| Three packs | £140 | £1.41 | Free |
| Subscription, one pack a month | £47 | £1.42 | £3.50 |
| Subscription, three packs every three months | £120 | £1.21 | Free |
Lean Greens says subscriptions can be skipped, paused or cancelled from your account with no notice period, and the first order comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee. It isn't vegan, because of the bovine collagen.
On its own site Collagen Greens has 23 reviews, all five stars, many from people who used to take creatine or collagen separately; one calls the taste "quite earthy but nice", which the founder puts down to the creatine. Its Trustpilot page (4.7 from 66 reviews in October 2026) mostly covers the older powder it replaced.
One more thing I liked: Lean Greens publishes its own UK greens powder guide that names where competitors beat it on price or dose, which is rarer than it should be.
The most added vitamins: Huel Daily Greens
Huel Daily Greens is the choice for someone who wants a multivitamin and greens in one, and doesn't take either already. Its 8.5g serving lists 91 vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, two probiotic strains and a mushroom and adaptogen blend, for £50, or £45 on subscription. It's vegan and gluten-free. Huel's own page says it isn't suitable in pregnancy or for breastfeeding, because of the high levels of some vitamins and minerals, or for children under 12.
If it's mainly the vitamins you're after, a separate tablet costs far less than any powder here. Simply SupplementsSimply SupplementsSimply Supplements sells own-brand vitamins, minerals, fish oils, glucosamine, turmeric and collagen, mostly in tubs of 90 to 180 tablets or capsules, plus VitaPaws supplements and1 current offer · View store → sells its one-a-day Multivitamins A, B, C, D & E at £6.29 for 180 tablets at full price in October 2026, about 3.5p a day, against about £1 a scoop for the cheapest greens powder. It won't give you the greens, the probiotics or the mushroom blend.
The comparison most people make is with AG1. In a 2023 r/Huel post, one long-time AG1 drinker explained switching to Daily Greens for the lower cost, a taste they preferred and ingredients they recognised, while noting fewer probiotics and no travel sachets at the time.
Taste is the other thing Huel drinkers talk about. In another r/Huel thread, a UK buyer who found it "a struggle to make myself drink it" got specific fixes from other readers: no-added-sugar blackcurrant squash, juice or an electrolyte mix instead of water, or blending it with fruit.
The best known: AG1
AG1 is the powder most of the others are measured against, with a 13g serving that combines plant powders, a multivitamin and five probiotic strains. It's also the most expensive here: £97 one-off or £79 on subscription in October 2026, and the subscription delivers every four weeks, so a year comes to about £1,027. AG1 says its UK tubs are certified by Informed Sport.
The criticism is about what you're paying for. Fortune reported in January 2025 that 49 of its 75 ingredients had undisclosed doses, and its trials are small, short and funded by AG1 (above). Scientist Rhonda Patrick puts it bluntly in this short clip: she treats AG1 as a multivitamin in drink form, with the greens and probiotics in very small amounts. It was published before AG1's 2025 reformulation, which changed its probiotics and added vitamins and minerals.
AG1 has loyal drinkers too. One r/nutrition commenter who'd taken it almost daily for nearly three years credited it with stronger nails and better digestion, while adding that no powder or pill can do it all.
Its UK label says it isn't suitable for under-18s or in pregnancy or breastfeeding, and its European label advises against taking other supplements containing zinc alongside it.
Tested for sport: Healthspan Elite
HealthspanHealthspanHealthspan sells vitamins, minerals, herbal supplements, sports nutrition and pet supplements direct to customers. It has been trading since 1996 and ships free within the UK on su8 current offers · View store →'s Elite All Blacks Performance Greens suits athletes who are drug-tested. It's tested under the Informed Sport programme, which screens every batch for banned substances. The 10g serving is spinach, spirulina, kale, broccoli, pomegranate and a kiwi fruit extract, with no added vitamins or sweeteners, for £37.99, or £33.99 on subscription. Cancelling that subscription takes a phone call at least 72 hours before the next dispatch.
The simplest and cheapest: Rheal
RhealRheal SuperfoodsRheal sells powdered superfood blends for everyday routines, from gut and hydration mixes to greens and a beauty-focused berry powder. The range is built around simple daily use raBuying guide · View store →'s Organic Clean Greens is eight organic ingredients, including baobab, barley grass, wheatgrass, moringa, chlorella and spirulina, with no added sweetener. A 5g serving costs £1, or 80p on subscription. The doses aren't printed, so it's the one to choose for simplicity rather than for knowing exactly what's in it.
Mostly fibre: Bloom
Bloom Greens & Superfoods, sold in the UK at Holland & Barrett, is £25 for a 180g tub of 30 servings (£20 on offer in October 2026). Its first ingredient is fructo-oligosaccharides, a fibre, and by weight the powder is 49% fibre, about 2.9g a serving, mostly from that and inulin. That makes it more of a fibre drink with some greens than the other way round, which suits someone after more fibre rather than more greens.
Mushroom coffee, such as 
SpacegoodsSpacegoodsSpacegoods makes mushroom and adaptogen drink powders, including coffee-style Rainbow Dust and Matcha Dust. Its marketing leans on focus and energy claims, so it helps to know whatBuying guide · View store →' Rainbow Dust, sometimes gets lumped in with greens powders, but it's a different drink: coffee with mushroom extracts rather than a greens blend. Our Rainbow Dust guide explains what's in it.
Is a greens powder safe for everyone?
Three groups should check before starting one.
People on warfarin. The NHS warfarin guide says not to take vitamin K supplements, and that foods high in vitamin K, such as spinach and broccoli, can affect how warfarin works. Several greens powders add vitamin K or are built on leafy greens, so a word with the warfarin clinic comes before the first scoop.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding. Huel and AG1 both say their powders aren't suitable, mainly because of the added vitamins. The NHS pregnancy guidance is not to take supplements containing vitamin A at all, so the label is worth checking even on powders without a full vitamin panel.
Anyone already taking supplements. Adding a vitamin-heavy powder to a multivitamin and a vitamin D tablet can push some nutrients towards their upper limits. The labels give the amounts, so the sums are easy to do.
Questions people ask
Are greens powders worth it?
They're worth it for convenience, if a daily drink suits you and the specific ingredients are ones you want. They don't count towards your 5 A Day, and a scoop holds a few grams of dried plants against 80g in one portion of vegetables.
Is frozen spinach cheaper than greens powder?
Much cheaper. An 80g portion of own-brand frozen spinach cost about 14p at UK supermarkets in October 2026, against £1 or more for a scoop of most greens powders, and the spinach counts towards your 5 A Day.
What is the best greens powder in the UK?
It depends on what you want from it. Rheal is the cheapest and simplest, Huel Daily Greens has the most added vitamins, Healthspan Elite is tested for sport, and Lean Greens' Collagen Greens is the one with creatine and collagen and every dose printed.
Is AG1 worth it in the UK?
AG1 combines greens, a multivitamin and probiotics, but at £79 every four weeks on subscription in 2026, about £1,027 a year, it costs more than its rivals. Huel Daily Greens covers similar ground for £45 a month on subscription.
What is a UK alternative to AG1?
Huel Daily Greens is the closest match, with added vitamins and probiotics. Lean Greens and Healthspan are UK brands without added vitamins, and Lean Greens adds creatine and collagen.
Do greens powders contain heavy metals?
Some do. ConsumerLab's US tests have repeatedly found lead in greens products, including AG1 in September 2026. In Great Britain, supplements must stay under legal limits for lead, cadmium and mercury, and NSF Certified for Sport also checks for contaminants.
Can you drink greens powder every day?
They're designed for daily use at the stated serving. Anyone on warfarin, pregnant, or already taking vitamin supplements should check the label against their other sources first.
Where I'd start
Vegetables come first, and no powder changes that; the NHS 5 A Day guide and a bag of frozen spinach are the better places to begin. If a daily drink still appeals, the right one depends on what you want it to add: creatine and collagen with every dose on the label, for which HealthspanHealthspanHealthspan sells vitamins, minerals, herbal supplements, sports nutrition and pet supplements direct to customers. It has been trading since 1996 and ships free within the UK on su8 current offers · View store →; or the plainest, cheapest scoop, which is RhealRheal SuperfoodsRheal sells powdered superfood blends for everyday routines, from gut and hydration mixes to greens and a beauty-focused berry powder. The range is built around simple daily use raBuying guide · View store →. If it's focus rather than greens you're after, our look at Spacegoods' mushroom coffee covers the other scoop people are adding to their mornings.
