You Can’t Outrun Athletic Greens

Maybe you learned about Athletic Greens on an episode of “Pod Save America,” or between gruesome tales on “Crime Junkie.” Perhaps you heard an ad for it on Dax Shepard’s podcast, “Armchair Expert,” or Conan O’Brien’s or, if it’s more your style, Joe Rogan’s. You might have even caught wind of it on a New York Times podcast, like The Daily.

“The secret to making a successful podcast is you have to use Athletic Greens,” joked the writer and editor Clint Carter in a tweet.

For a company that’s been around for more than a decade, it seems to have appeared out of nowhere. Athletic Greens aggressively advertises (and sells) only one product: AG1, a moss-toned powder that costs $99 for a 30-serving bag and claims to be “all you really need, really.”

But it isn’t a meal replacement nor is it a pre- or post-workout drink, as the brand’s name implies. AG1 promises “75 vitamins, minerals, whole-food sourced superfoods, probiotics and adaptogens” in one scoop. The ingredient list is biblically long and rife with parentheses, its components categorized by wellness buzzwords: “Alkaline, Nutrient-Dense Raw Superfood Complex” (including spirulina, wheatgrass and broccoli flower powder), “Nutrient Dense Extracts” (pea protein isolate, ashwagandha extract) and “Digestive Enzyme & Super Mushroom Complex” (like dietary enzymes and mushroom powders).

Simply put, it is a drinkable multivitamin and probiotic.

Within the sleek, emerald packaging — designed, it seems, to make opening it feel ceremonial — is a bag of AG1 and a clear branded bottle. The instructions recommend mixing one 12-gram scoop of powder with eight to 12 ounces of cold water and drinking the concoction on an empty stomach (“or as recommended by your health care professional”).