Green powders can be an easy way to consume more fruits and vegetables, which is a good strategy for boosting your nutritional intake. Especially if you find it hard to prepare healthy home-cooked meals, you travel a lot, or you are (or live with) a picky eater who’s not thrilled with eating vegetables and fruits on a daily basis. Green powders can help fill the gap.

Green powders can also provide you with the benefits of greens when they’re out of season and you can’t access fresh ones. In some regions of the world, leafy greens tend to bolt in response to long, hot summer days, and if you want greens during those months, you either have to import them, use frozen ones, or rely on powdered greens. The powders have the added benefit of a longer shelf life than fresh or frozen produce. And if you’re short on freezer space, they don’t take up very much real estate.

Because green powders are concentrated (largely through the removal of water), you need only a small amount of powder to get the nutritional equivalent of multiple servings of greens, vegetables, and fruits.

It also makes sense that properly formulated green powders can support gut health. Like the veggies and fruits they’re made from, green powders also contain organic compounds like polyphenols and antioxidants, which promote beneficial gut bacteria. And some green powders also have added prebiotics, probiotics, and/or digestive enzymes.

Green powders can also deliver a potent mix of antioxidants, which have been shown to increase the levels of these beneficial compounds in blood. Antioxidants combat oxidative stress, a process that can contribute to heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer’s, as well as conditions associated with aging, such as cataracts.

Are Green Powders Worth It?

The answer to “Are green powders worth it?”, like the answer to most questions, is, “It depends.” For someone who eats almost no produce — fresh or frozen, raw or cooked — a well-formulated green powder may provide immensely valuable nutritional supplementation. But for someone already eating the recommended amount of fruits and veggies (which, according to the CDC, describes only 10% of the US population), there may be much less benefit.

For one thing, while most green powders contain high amounts of vitamins and minerals, there isn’t enough research to understand how bioavailable they are — that is, how much your body can absorb and use. Whole foods aren’t just static collections of nutrients — a tomato is far more biologically potent than the vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients in it taken on their own. It’s not at all clear whether fiber plays a big role in helping your body get the most out of the other nutrients, or whether fresh or “living” foods have something important that dehydrated foods do not.

And while green powders are sometimes described as whole foods, they are, in fact, missing two extremely important nutrients: water and fiber. Processing renders them shelf-stable and highly concentrated, making them easier to transport, store, and display for sale. But it also comes with downsides. For one, fiber and water trigger satiety, so replacing whole fruits and veggies with powder represents a missed opportunity to help your body know when it’s time to stop eating, especially if you’re sprinkling the powder on things like pasta dishes or drinking it in sweet smoothies. And most people don’t drink enough water to begin with, so the hydration provided by whole produce is important.

It’s clear that green powders can’t fully replace a whole foods diet. Eating these foods in their whole food state is still the best way to get all the nutrients your body needs. But green powders may give you a boost, nutritionally, especially if you’re easing into eating healthier, don’t always have time to sit down to a full meal, or travel a lot and appreciate having healthier dehydrated foods. But some green powders are also fortified with additional vitamins and minerals, which may not be necessary if you’re already taking other vitamins or supplements, in addition to eating a healthy balanced diet.

Green Powder Side Effects and Downsides

In fact, it’s possible to get too much of certain vitamins and minerals. Two nutrients that can be problematic in excess are vitamin D and iron. And not all synthetic vitamins are beneficial, so you may want to check how much is in your green powder (and pay attention to serving size — you may be adding a quarter-cup scoop when the manufacturer has calculated nutrition facts based on a serving of a single tablespoon).

Many green powders provide high amounts of vitamin K, which is generally good for you, but can interact with a variety of prescription medications like antacids, certain blood thinners, antibiotics, aspirin, and drugs for cancer, seizures, and high cholesterol, among other conditions. If you take any of these pharmaceuticals, you may want to consult your health care team before adding a green powder to your supplement regimen.

While you’re checking the label of your green powder of choice, be on the lookout for certain ingredients that can cause side effects or allergies in some people. But even if nothing on the label concerns you, you’re not necessarily in the clear.

Like all supplements, green powders are not tested or approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Worldwide, oversight and compliance vary by country or region. That is, no official authority exists to verify that supplements contain what they claim to contain; whether the included ingredients are safe; and even whether they contain heavy metals, bacteria, or pesticides. You either have to trust the brand’s label or check whether a particular product has undergone testing by an independent third-party service such as ConsumerLab, NSF, or USP.

Many green powders also contain ingredients that could be concerning for some people. For example, spirulina and chlorella powders may contain sulfites and can trigger allergic reactions in those sensitive to those compounds.

If you have a wheat allergy or celiac disease, make sure your green powder is certified gluten-free. And if you’re dealing with an autoimmune disorder such as lupus or MS, you may want to avoid powders that contain alfalfa sprouts or seeds because of their immune system-stimulating effects.

That’s not an exhaustive list. There may be other troublesome ingredients, including additives and natural flavors in green powders, not to mention added sweeteners, so make sure to read ingredient labels before ingesting.

Also, there’s the question of cost. Like many other supplements, green powders can be pricey for some. Most cost upwards of $30 per 10 ounces, which can come out to more than a dollar per serving. Fortunately, you can cut that cost significantly by making your own green powder at home — using whole leafy greens, vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, and/or herbs.