Kylea Health & Energy Total Living Drink Greens Review — Does It Have Any Drawbacks?

Now, this is something different. Kylea Health & Energy has produced an unusual hybrid supplement: Total Living Drinks Green is both a greens powder and a protein shake.

That means the calories and serving size are a lot higher than your standard greens powder — one scoop is 120 calories with 11 grams of protein and 10 grams of carbs — but with all that extra volume, Kylea had space to add the kind of nutrients you don’t usually see in their competitors.

Ingredients

The first unusual thing about this product is that the ingredients contain a vitamin and mineral formula that appears to just be made from, well, vitamins and minerals. I found that to be a positive aspect — instead of piling in powdered fruits and vegetables and assuming that I’ll assume that confers nutrition, Kylea quantifies the micronutrients I’m looking for.

There ares Vitamins A, B1, B2, B12, C, D3, E, K, and a lot of important minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, and manganese. All of these are in such high doses that they meet or exceed the recommended daily intake, sometimes by a lot — there’s 1,166 percent of the RDI of Vitamin C and 8,334 percent of your daily B12.

After the vitamin and mineral mix there are the amino acids glutamine and taurine, which may help with energy levels and muscular health; there’s an antioxidant blend’ a blend of digestive enzymes and probiotic bacteria; and an herb blend that includes effective dosages of rhodiola rosea and astragalus, which are linked to cognitive benefits.

And then fifteen grams per serving — about a third of the supplement by weight — is a fruit and vegetable formula of alfalfa juice powder, spirulina juice powder, fenugreek, barley juice powder, broccoli juice powder, chlorella, wheat grass juice powder, apple juice powder, pineapple, dulse, luo han guo fruit concentrate, and a few others.

One scoop contains 120 calories, 11 grams of vegan protein (made from pea, rice, and pumpkin seed), 10 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of fiber, and 2.5 grams of fat.

Taste

It’s surprisingly pleasant, and the taste, like the product itself, is like a protein shake combined with a greens supplement. The predominant flavor is blueberry, but there’s also an earthy green tea flavor with somewhat nutty undertones. All in all, it’s quite similar to açai berry.

Effectiveness

Total Living Greens Drink provides a large amount of nutrition. As I said above, one serving contains almost 1,200 percent of your RDI of Vitamin C. There’s also over 8000 percent of your B12 and 100 percent of your calcium, which is good news for folks who eat more of a plant-based diet, and a lot zinc, selenium, and manganese, minerals that often get overlooked. It contains far more nutrition than any other greens powder I’ve seen. (Strangely, there’s no information about its iron content.)

I know this sounds nitpicky, but there’s an argument to be made that it’s a little too nutritious. For example, one scoop contains 1,000 milligrams of calcium, but people can only really absorb 500 milligrams at a time, so you’re likely to lose half that amount in your urine, anyway.

But most greens powders exaggerate their ability to substitute for fruits and vegetables, and this is the first one I’ve seen that might actually be overshooting its mark. It’s hard to be too upset with Kylea for that.

Another good thing about this product is that it contains five types of digestive enzymes and four kinds of probiotic bacteria, which should provide benefits to digestive health. However, it doesn’t state how many probiotics are actually present in a dose, which is information I would have found very useful.

But Kylea does an admirable job of offering the best of multivitamins, greens powders, and a protein shake: it’s actually very high in most vitamins and minerals, and it contains a good 15 grams of juice powders and fruit and vegetable powders sourced from industry stalwarts like spirulina, alfalfa, barley, and chlorella. With the vitamins, the grasses, the probiotics, the protein, and the herbal formula, this ticks almost every box — it’s just missing more detailed information about its probiotic count and its antioxidant content.

Price

At about $100 thirty servings, or $3.33 per scoop, it’s one of the most expensive greens supplements I’ve ever seen, second only to Athletic Greens at $4.23 per serving.

Personally, since even half a serving is several times more nutritious than most of its competitors, I would just halve the servings to save the cash. It’s worth pointing out  that the product itself suggests taking between half a scoop and a whole scoop anyway, and that you only consume half servings for the first few weeks of taking it in order to accustom your body to its “high level of nutrients.”

Compare that with Onnit’s Earth Grown Nutrients ($2.30/serving), Patriot Power Greens ($1.96/serving) AI Sports Nutrition Red & Greens XT ($1.33/serving), Green Vibrance ($1.08/serving), ORAC-Energy Greens ($1/serving), PharmaFreak Greens Freak ($1/serving), Sun Warrior’s Supergreens ($0.55/serving), and Amazing Grass’s Green Superfood ($0.52/serving).

The Takeaway

It’s expensive and I was a little frustrated by the lack of information regarding the amount of probiotic bacteria it contains, but those issues aside, this is among the more nutritious greens powders I’ve tried.

A lot of its competitors claim they can replace a multivitamin but don’t deliver on that promise. Kylea’s Total Living Drink Green very well could.

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