The Scoop on Veggie Powders

Dark green vegetables are often considered to be the cream of the health-food crop because they’re particularly rich in essential minerals such as iron, magnesium and calcium, plus vitamins C, K and a bunch of the Bs. New green powders promise all that nutritional goodness in one convenient scoop—just stir into a glass of water. These products, from Athletic Greens, Garden of Life, Vital Proteins and others, are made of dehydrated veggies such as spinach, beetroot and broccoli, plus spirulina, a type of algae full of nutrients.

But is drinking your greens as healthy as eating them? The short answer is no because they’re missing one crucial element: fibre. Fibre is good for your gut, helping to keep food moving through the digestive system. Still, ­getting your daily servings of whole vegetables isn’t always convenient.

“I consider powdered greens to be a nutritional supplement,” says Maya Feller, a New York–based registered dietitian and author of Eating from Our Roots: 80+ Healthy Home-Cooked Favorites from Cultures Around the World. “Many formulations have added vitamins and minerals or other nutrients that don’t naturally occur in green vegetables, so they’re similar to a multi­vitamin.”

So keep eating those healthy veggies, and reach for the powders when you need a nutritional boost.