Opti Greens 50 is a superfood supplement created by 1st Phorm, who is one of the leading companies in all of sports nutrition. 1st Phorm has many great products, but in this Opti Greens 50 review, we’re going to explain where they went wrong with this one.
Companies who focus specifically on superfoods and general nutrition as opposed to sports nutrition are generally better at formulating green powder supplements, and in our view, that’s essentially what went wrong here.
We’ll talk in depth about why we do NOT recommend Opti Greens 50 and breakdown the full Supplement Facts Panel (SFP) later in the review. If you want to learn about some green powder supplements that are much better, click here: BEST GREENS POWDERS.
1st Phorm Opti Greens 50 review by a Certified Nutrition Coach: Is Opti Greens 50 any good?
This is not necessarily a bad supplement, but it’s definitely not good enough to compete with the top shelf greens supplements on the market. At the end of the day, this is really just a run of the mill, middle tier superfood supplement. It provides about 9,000 milligrams worth of superfoods per serving, which makes it 50% less potent than our top ranked greens powder, the TOTAL LIVING DRINK.
Plus, in addition to the very potent superfood blend, the Total Living Drink also contains very high dosages of probiotics and digestive enzymes, 11 grams of vegan protein powder, tons of added vitamins and minerals, and an exceptionally high phytonutrient potency level due to the fact that all of the greens are pre juiced before they are powdered.
As a Certified Nutrition Coach, I would not be able to recommend this greens powder to a client and then sleep well at night. It just isn’t worth the money in my opinion. The formula is not potent enough to make serious difference or produce any really significant health benefits as far as I can tell.
Plus, even if I thought this was a solid green powder, how could I possibly recommend it over the Total Living Drink? You pay essentially the same price and get 50% more nutrients…it’s a no brainer. I do NOT recommend Opti Greens 50 and would strongly encourage you to explore other options. There are a lot of great green powders out there.
My Personal Opti Greens 50 Results and Experience
As a NASM Certified Nutrition Coach, I conduct my reviews based primarily on the supplement facts panel (SFP), nutrition facts, and the science as a whole. However, I do feel obligated to personally test dietary supplements myself before I feel comfortable recommending them to my clients. There’s just something about personal experience with the product that speaks to people more than SFP analysis…perhaps it’s just less boring. Anyways, I took Opti Greens 50 for two weeks, and here’s what happened…
If I could describe what happened in one word, it would be this: nothing. Most likely due to the lack of potency, Opti Greens 50 just did not work for me at all in terms of health benefits. I didn’t experience any noticeable changes in digestion, energy levels, or overall health. This was rather disappointing, and I unfortunately don’t have much else to say about my experience since there were no health benefits to speak of.
On the bright side, at least it didn’t produce any side effects for me. Many of the lower tier supplements tend to produce side effects such as upset stomach, constipation, and other digestive issues because they are not formulated properly and can mess with your gut as a result. Opti Greens 50 at least did not contain anything that was detrimental to my health, so I guess that’s a good thing. Additionally, the flavor of the supplement wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I mixed it in with orange juice and found it was not difficult to drink Opti Greens 50.
Bottom Line: I would not recommend Opti Greens 50 to any of my clients or readers based on my lack of results using the product as well as my analysis of the nutrition facts. It’s simply not worth the money, and in my experience, doesn’t work.
What does Opti Greens 50 do?
What does Opti Greens 50 do for you? It provides you with a combination of non gmo fruits and vegetables, organic grasses and greens, leafy greens, algae, & vitamins and minerals in order to produce health benefits for your immune system, digestive system, gut microbiome, and gastrointestinal health. Note: the supplement is designed to produce these health benefits, but whether or not it can produce them is a different story.
It is designed to serve a lot of important purposes, but the whole point that we want to drive home throughout this review is that we don’t believe it is capable of producing the benefits it was designed to produce due to a lack of overall potency and under dosing of crucial ingredients. It’s even entirely missing some of the most critical superfoods on the market, as well as some super key vitamins and minerals.
In my opinion as a Nutrition Coach (and many clinical studies support my opinion), the most important and powerful green superfoods are Chlorella and Spirulina. This supplement has a major problem here with regard to formulation and the supplement facts panel because it provides a very low dosage of Spirulina, and it doesn’t even contain Chlorella at all.
We don’t intend to bash the product too hard…it’s not a terrible greens powder. However, based on simple supplement facts panel analysis, it’s just not potent enough to work in our opinion. The overall potency is too low, and its missing too many crucial superfood ingredients. So, if you were a client of mine, and you asked me “what does Opti Greens 50 do?” I’d probably answer with one word: nothing!
Opti Greens 50 ingredients list
Here are the primary ingredients in the Opti Greens 50 formula:
- Barley grass
- Spirulina
- Wheat grass
- Alfalfa grass
- Kale
- Spinach
- Parsley
- Broccoli
- Beet juice
- Bilberry
- Wild blueberry extract
- Grape seed extract
- Elderberry extract
- L Carnitine
- Digestive enzymes
- Probiotics
Green Superfood Complex (Grasses & Vegetables)
The primary blend is what they call their Green Superfood Complex. It accounts for about 6,100 milligrams worth of nutrients per serving and includes a blend of 8 organic non gmo greens and leafy greens such as barley grass, alfalfa grass, wheat grass, oat grass, spirulina, chlorella, kale, spinach, and broccoli.
These organic grasses and greens are very rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, all of which can help you build a strong immune system. These ingredients can produce all sorts of benefits related to energy, digestive health, cholesterol, blood pressure, healthy immune system function, joint pain relief, and gut health. However, this certainly is not the most potent powder on the market.
The non gmo organic grasses and greens ingredients are impressive, but the blend severely lacks potency. A serving of Opti Greens 50 contains only 6,100 MG, which is only one third of what our top ranked green powder contains. Yes, you read that right. The aforementioned Total Living Drink contains 15,000 milligrams worth of pre juiced phytonutrient rich superfoods, making it about 3 times as potent as Opti Greens 50. A greens blend that strong can have a seriously life changing impact on your overall health.
Glycemic Balance Blend
1st Phorm’s Glycemic Balance Blend is the second largest blend in the formula, containing a total of roughly 2,200 milligrams worth of superfoods. This blend includes grape seed extract, alpha lipoic acid, rice bran, cinnamon, and green tea.
The primary purpose of this blend (as you might be able to guess based on the name) is to help optimize your blood sugar levels. As a result, these ingredients can also help increase energy levels and improve brain function. However, at only 2,200 milligrams, is this blend really potent enough to help produce a healthy glycemic response?
I’m not a doctor, so I can’t tell you what your body needs in order to experience a healthy glycemic response. However, I am a Certified Nutrition Coach, and I can tell you that this blend is nutritionally very weak. The dosages are low when compared to competing products, and the formula is outright missing several key nutrients.
Phytonutrient Complex (Natural Fruits & Berries)
Unfortunately, this particular blend really lacks potency. It has some excellent non gmo ingredients including beet juice, cranberry, strawberry, raspberry, elderberry extract, and wild bilberry, all of which can help strengthen your immune system. However, the potency of the blend is only 430 MG per serving, which means you’re not getting enough of these nutrients.
If this blend was more potent, it would be significantly more impressive. The ingredient selection is excellent, but in order for these phytonutrients to produce noticeable benefits, the dosages simply need to be higher. The vast majority of the benefits superfoods have to offer come from the phytonutrients that they contain, so if the supplement you are buying contains a weak phytonutrient complex, that’s a very bad sign. You need these nutrients if you want to build a strong immune system.
Plant Enzyme Blend (Digestive Enzymes)
This is a standard 200 milligram blend of your typical digestive enzymes including amylase, protease, peptidase, lipase, cellulase, lactase, and bromelain. Digestive enzymes are very helpful because they help your body properly digest and absorb all of the key nutrients that greens supplements contain. After all, greens powders don’t do you much good if the nutrients aren’t being properly digested (also known as nutrient absorption).
Superfoods are rich in many very potent phytonutrients, which is why it is so crucial that your body is able to properly digest and absorb them. In fact, this is the reason that “juicing” has become so popular. It liquifies the nutrients, making them easier for your body to absorb and allowing the phytonutrients to work wonders on your immune system. Again, the key is proper nutrient absorption.
Your body naturally has a difficult time extracting the key nutrients from the superfoods, but a shot of juiced greens is much easier for your body to digest. That’s why taking barley grass shots and wheat grass shots has become something of a hot trend lately. Your body can absorb a shot of juiced greens much more efficiently…but you know what’s even better than taking one measly little shot? Taking a full serving of pre juiced greens! That’s where greens powders come in…in terms of overall health, greens powders are hands down the best supplements on the market in terms of proper nutrient absorption.
Probiotic Blend
This is a very small probiotic blend, providing a total of only 1 billion CFU. To put that into perspective, normal probiotics supplements provide about 10-15 times that amount. 1 billion CFU is not enough probiotics to help improve gut health or significantly impact gut microbiome, which is why we really wish this blend was more potent. The food you eat negatively effects your gut health, but that’s where probiotics come in.
Probiotics and digestive enzymes are both absolutely crucial when it comes to improving your gut health, optimizing your gut microbiome, and really making a difference in terms of your overall digestive health. Both probiotics and digestive enzymes each serve their own critical role. Digestive enzymes allow your body to break down the phytonutrients the superfoods are providing and then ensure your body absorbs them so that none of those powerful phytonutrients go to waste.
Probiotics serve to provide your gut with healthy bacteria. I know what you’re thinking…healthy bacteria? Sounds backwards doesn’t it? Well, it’s actually not. There is such a thing as healthy gut bacteria, and that’s exactly what probiotics are. Probiotics contain strains of good bacteria that improve your gut health and optimize your gut microbiome, which is why they are such a crucial part of any superfood supplement. Probiotics just play such a massive role in overall health…they simply can not be overlooked.
Opti Greens 50 dosage: How much Opti Greens 50 should you take & when?
According to the label, you only need to take one serving per day. 1st Phorm recommends adding 2 scoops to 8 ounces of cold water or juice and mixing well. They also say that for best results, you should drink it immediately after mixing the powder in with the water. This is probably because the texture will become lumpy if you wait too long to drink it.
While we do not recommend this particular supplement, we can make some recommendations in terms of when to take your greens supplement. We hope you choose a better one than this one, but either way, I’d personally recommend taking it in the morning. I’d also recommend mixing it in with juice or a smoothie rather than water, which is what I do.
I mix my greens serving in with a smoothie because it helps mask the taste, plus then it can serve as a meal replacement supplement. Personally I use orange juice, blueberries, and bananas. These additions help mask the taste of the vegetables. Plus, since I use the Total Living Drink, that means my morning smoothie contains 10-11 servings of non gmo fruits and vegetables, organic grasses and greens, vegan protein powder, and tons of vitamins and minerals…what a breakfast!
1st Phorm Opti Greens 50 pros and cons
Here are the benefits and side effects of Opti Greens 50.
Opti Greens 50 Benefits
While we are not huge fans of this product as a whole, there are still certainly some benefits to be had. After all, it does contain about 9,000 milligrams worth of superfoods. That’s significantly less than the top products in the space, but it could be enough to produce some benefits.
Some of the health benefits users may experience include:
- Increased energy
- Improved digestion
- Enhanced gut health
- Optimized blood sugar levels (blood sugar regulation)
- Immune system boost
If you really want to get the most out of your greens supplement, you need to choose a more potent option. When the nutrients are properly dosed and the formula is potent enough, you could notice significant differences in digestive health, gut health, gut microbiome, stomach issues, immune health, brain health, elimination of free radicals, cognitive function, blood pressure, and more. The key is simply that the nutrient intake is high enough, which is not the case with Opti Greens 50. If you want an immune supporting greens powder that is capable of producing serious benefits, I’d look elsewhere.
Some of the Opti Greens 50 pros are that it is gluten free, non gmo, and contains plenty of naturally occurring essential nutrients. It’s generally expected that these be qualities of all green supplements (especially the gluten free and non gmo part), but I still had to give them props here.
However, please note that no dietary supplement is meant to treat, cure, or prevent ANY disease or disorder, and superfood supplements are not evaluated by the Food And Drug Administration (FDA), which means the benefits have not been verified by the FDA. With that said, if you are waiting for the Food And Drug Administration to approve a dietary supplement, you’re going to be waiting forever. They never approve of natural supplements…they strictly approve prescription medications.
Opti Greens 50 Side Effects
It’s very unlikely for most people to have to deal with any sort of major side effects of Opti Greens 50 since the formula strictly contains vegetables, grasses, algae, and fruits. All of the ingredients are organic, and there’s nothing in here that appears to be cause for concern.
You may experience some mild stomach issues including cramps and discomfort when you first start taking the supplement, which is typically just your stomach getting used to the ingredients. Stomach issues are a common side effect that should go away once you are used to the supplement, but if the side effects don’t go away, make sure to stop taking the supplement and consult your primary health care physician.
Opti Greens 50 complaints & praise (info from real 1st Phorm Opti Greens 50 customer reviews)
We usually like to add this section in to take some time examining customer reviews, but we prefer for the reviews to come from third party websites such as Amazon or GNC. Amazon only allows verified buyers to submit reviews, so we know we can trust the information.
In this case, the only Opti Greens 50 reviews that exist are posted directly on the 1st Phorm website. These are not reviews from verified customers, so we can’t be sure they’re trustworthy. I would also generally urge you not to lean so much on customer feedback and focus more on the nutrition facts.
However, there are over 9,000 customer reviews on their website, and about 99% of them rate the product 5 out of 5 stars…you can decide for yourself whether to trust that data or not. To me, it’s a little odd when there are no negative reviews whatosever. Plus, let’s not forget about the facts here. Don’t get lost in the reviews. The fact remains that this supplement severely lacks potency…plus, it does not contain enough probiotics to truly impact your overall gut health,
Is 1st Phorm Opti Greens 50 worth it? Our conclusion
Bottom Line: All things considered, I do not believe Opti Greens 50 is worth it due primarily to the overall potency being too low and the formula missing key ingredients. Plus, I had a negative personal experience taking Opti Greens 50, which is always a bummer. This just is not a very complete greens powder. You can easily find other green supplements that provide over 50% more superfoods per serving or more and produce WAY more benefits as a result. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to choose 1st Phorm Opti Greens 50. Go check out some of our top rated green drinks and you will see exactly how much better they are than this one…the difference is astounding!
You can see our top ranked greens powder here: Total Living Drink Review (spoiler alert: it’s even better than Athletic Greens!)
Are there any Opti Greens 50 coupon codes or promo discount vouchers?
We were not able to find any currently active Opti Greens 50 discount codes. However, the product isn’t crazy overpriced to begin with. It’s priced for exactly what it is, which is just an average supplement. We wouldn’t recommend buying it even if you could find a coupon code. A lower price point does not fix the problem, which is lack of potency and therefore ultimately lack of efficacy.
What about Opti Reds 50?
Lately I’ve been getting a lot of questions about 1st Phorm Opti Reds, which is essentially the fruits or “Reds” version of their Opti Greens product. Many companies are beginning to create an alternative to their greens powder that they call a “reds powder.” It’s simple really…greens powders consist mostly of vegetables, and reds powders consist mostly of fruits. Anyways, is Opti Reds 50 any good?
In short, no…the stories with Opti Greens and Reds are essentially the same. Both products lack potency, and both products are missing a ton of crucial ingredients in their superfood blends. It’s also worth noting that both Opti Greens and Reds are super overpriced considering how low the overall potency of each product is. The Reds product is even less potent, so I’d expect it to be cheaper, but it’s not.
If you want to read my full review of the Reds product, you can check it out here: Opti Reds 50 Review.
References
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The antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and anti-inflammatory activities of Spirulina: an overview
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The Medical Use of Wheatgrass: Review of the Gap Between Basic and Clinical Applications
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Potential of Chlorella as a Dietary Supplement to Promote Human Health
I’m not just a supplement analyst. I’m an extremely qualified one! I am a Certified Nutrition Coach (CNC) and actually received my certification directly from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. I am also a Nutrition & Wellness Consultant, certified by the American Fitness Professionals Association (AFPA).
