鈥淛ust when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!鈥� This famous line from Michael Corleone is apt here: our Office and others have been over the AG1 story, denouncing听its flimsy scientific evidence. In fact, an entire听听from New Zealand exposed its founder鈥檚 history of fraudulent and deceptive behaviour.
But the omnipotent green smoothie wasn鈥檛 enough; the company has launched an听, and now we鈥檙e pulled right back in. Given AG1鈥檚 widespread and unavoidable marketing, expect to hear about AGZ for months to come.
AGZ is yet another powder of herbs and minerals that you add to your liquid of choice, and it鈥檚 meant to 鈥渟upport restful, restorative sleep鈥濃�攏o promises, just a bit of 鈥渟upport鈥� and 鈥渉elp鈥� here and there. AG1, formerly known as Athletic Greens, is a juggernaut, and this new product shows the giant isn鈥檛 satisfied with a single, all-in-one supplement: it wants to stack your shelves with more all-in-one solutions. Maybe an all-in-one athletic performance smoothie is next, or an all-in-one digestive smoothie.
One thing is certain. As these beverages drip down your esophagus, something akin to magic will take place: money will be teleported out of your bank account and into AG1鈥檚.
A house of ill repute
听AG1 was, for the longest time, a New Zealand success story. It was founded by 鈥淐hris the Kiwi鈥� Ashenden, who turned a green powder into a听听cultural phenomenon. But Ashenden鈥檚 priors, as uncovered by the award-winning听听investigative podcast, were quite unpalatable.
Ashenden, it turns out, had a history of offering houses in a rent-to-buy manner, but he failed to transfer the title of the properties once they were bought. As a judge听, people who 鈥渂ought鈥� houses from Ashenden 鈥渓ost everything they had put into the property they were seeking to acquire鈥攊ndeed were given the understanding they had acquired.鈥� He was convicted of 43 criminal breaches of the Fair Trading Act, and when he failed to pay fines and reparations, an arrest warrant was issued in his name.
Some reparations were made but not all, according to the podcast. During the听Powder Keg听investigation, Ashenden abruptly stepped down as CEO of AG1.
The original AG1 powder itself reminds me of Ashenden鈥檚 previous bait-and-switch. It is promoted as the one health beverage to rule them all; but it gives you certain vitamins in excess of your daily needs; it seduces you with the century-old argument of taking one 鈥渏ust in case,鈥� even though most of us are not vitamin deficient; and it throws into the mix a boatload of unproven ingredients that are trendy in wellness circles and withholds their amounts.听Powder Keg听revealed that well over 100 reports of adverse events had been filed with the Food and Drug Administration in association with drinking AG1, with 34 of these detailing elevated liver enzymes or flat-out liver injury. These reports do not听prove听that AG1 causes liver damage, but an investigation was warranted. The FDA听听at the end of 2024. Given the current regime in charge, however, I do not know what will happen to this investigation.
Considering the dubious nature of both the product and the company behind it, imagine听my听surprise when I heard a skeptic promoting AG1鈥檚 latest commodity, AGZ.
My听skepticism is brought to you in part by鈥�
鈥淚f you also struggle with sleep, you should consider AGZ.鈥� Those are the words of comedian and podcast host Adam Conover during听听which sponsored one of his episodes. His wording is certainly interesting. He鈥檚 asking you to 鈥渃onsider鈥� the product; he prefaces the company鈥檚 claims with 鈥淎GZ says;鈥� and he finishes with the deferential phrase 鈥渋f that makes sense to you, consider starting to take your sleep seriously with AGZ.鈥�
His careful, at times awkward wording comes, I think, from his reputation as a skeptic. He was the creator and host of the TV show听Adam Ruins Everything, which debunked misconceptions, propaganda and, occasionally, pseudoscience. Five months ago, he was caught participating in what I called 鈥渟ponsored skepticism:鈥� taking money from a company and pretending that you were given free rein to criticize the product while ultimately endorsing it. To fit in with the creeping 鈥渁re we the bad guys?鈥� vibe of Big Tech, the product was called听. It scanned your eyeball and gave you back cryptocurrency and the potential ability to use that scan to validate your identity with certain companies. Conover caught flak for the endorsement,听, and returned the money.
His acceptance of an AGZ sponsorship is yet another example of the ethical difficulties in commercializing independent content these days, given that most podcast sponsors are, in听my听opinion, deceptive if not predatory. Because these ads are read by the host themselves, the product or service rides the coattails of the parasocial relationship the host has developed with their fans. 鈥淚f Adam suggests it,鈥� the thinking goes, 鈥渁nd I like Adam, then the product must be good.鈥�
Conover isn鈥檛 alone in accepting AGZ money. Dr. Arthur Brooks from Harvard University has a podcast that was also听听by the product. His bio claims he 鈥渟pecializes in the highest levels of science and philosophy to provide people with actionable strategies to live their best lives.鈥� Surely he鈥檚 in the perfect position to appraise if a supplement is good or not? And, of course, there鈥檚 podcasting mega-star Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist in love with dietary supplements, who endorses AGZ, although in his case, he has听听to be a brand ambassador for the company itself.
AGZ is no different from AG1: it鈥檚 like someone went to their local natural food store, grabbed everything claimed to help with sleep, and poured the content into a large mixing bowl.
The lack of proper scientific evidence behind any of this might actually keep you up at night.
A witch鈥檚 brew
The full list of ingredients making up that AGZ sleep powder is impressively long: vitamin B6, two forms of magnesium, zinc, sodium, glycine,听myo-inositol, ashwagandha, L-theanine, a saffron extract, followed by a 鈥渃alming herbs and antioxidant blend鈥� which includes chamomile, valerian root, tart cherry, lemon balm, green kiwi, Baikal skullcap root, passionflower, lavender, and holy basil鈥� as well as coconut milk powder, natural flavours, fruit and vegetable juice for colour, citric acid, and stevia.
Some of the recognizable names on this list don鈥檛 make sense when we think about it. Both chamomile tea and valerian root tea have been around for a very long time, are commonly available in grocery stores, and yet a听听of Canadians do not report high sleep quality. If it was as simple as sipping a cup of herbal tea before going to bed, insomnia would be a thing of the past. In fact, the literature on chamomile tea to help you sleep is听underwhelming, and there鈥檚 a good chance that whatever benefit exists is due to the ritual of winding down as we make and drink the tea.
As for the magnesium in AGZ, this mineral is very trendy right now in sponsorship deals. If chamomile was yesterday鈥檚 hot thing in the insomnia space, magnesium is this season鈥檚 fashion queen. But here too, there is听no good scientific evidence听that it helps you find the arms of Morpheus. And holy basil? It鈥檚 the star of a very popular, blue-collar lunch in Thailand,听pad gaprao, a holy basil stir-fry. Are we to believe Thai workers fall asleep after lunch? In fact, I couldn鈥檛 find any evidence that the ursolic acid extracted from holy basil and put inside the AGZ mix has ever been shown to help with sleep; rather, it鈥檚 reported to be an听, a sort of stress buffer, and when it comes to adaptogens, the evidence is听sorely lacking.
I could go after every single ingredient in AGZ, but the story is always the same: interesting properties in cells growing in laboratory plastic dishes or in mice, and no rigorous trials in humans. The company behind AGZ paints over this with appeals to nature (鈥淎GZ is formulated to support your body鈥檚 natural rhythm, not override it鈥�); the use of the phrase 鈥渃linically studied鈥� which implies proven benefits but does not guarantee it; the exploitation of vague claims like 鈥減romote restorative potential鈥� and 鈥渟upport mood;鈥� and the marshalling of tiny studies, listed in a small font at the very bottom, that actually do not even refer to AGZ but to听听instead. There does not appear to be any study of AGZ itself. Instead, the website speaks of 鈥渞esearch-backed ingredients.鈥�
As with fashionable diets, the devil is in the unsexy details: a听听on the specific benefits of AGZ states that 鈥渙ver time, establishing a regular wind-down routine with consistent sleep hygiene practices can help improve the overall quality of sleep.鈥� Those sleep hygiene practices鈥攏ot looking at electronic screens an hour before bedtime, dimming the lights, avoiding caffeine in the hours leading to going to sleep鈥攁re free, though; AGZ will cost you USD 79 a month with a subscription.
Dietary supplements are not infrequently contaminated and adulterated. What reassures me here is that, even though AGZ has not been shown to work, it at least gets checked by a recognized, third-party laboratory,听, to make sure that what鈥檚 on the label is also in the pouches, and that no concerning contaminants like heavy metals are present in unsafe levels.
The patina of naturalness that coats the AGZ marketing can hide important details, though: drug-drug interactions.听听and听听interact with a lot of medications. Herbs are full of chemicals. The fact that they occur in nature does not make them safe. AGZ鈥檚 only warning I could find is that people who are pregnant or breastfeeding shouldn鈥檛 take the product.
Insufficient sleep and insomnia are real problems. They can be caused by stress, chronic pain, and alcohol and drug use. Depression and anxiety can be culprits, as well as a long range of medical conditions. Sometimes it鈥檚 restless leg syndrome; other times, it鈥檚 the need to get up and urinate more than once during the night. And it can be as simple as doomscrolling your social media platform of choice while in bed, thus feeding your brain bright lights, stimulating videos, and anxiogenic news headlines.
There is no reason to think that a witch鈥檚 brew of every 鈥渘atural鈥� sleeping aid is going to help in any way, and if the company is going to claim synergy鈥攖he idea that ho-hum ingredients鈥� powers get magnified when used together鈥攖hey will have to prove it. Scientifically.
Andrew Huberman writing that AGZ is 鈥渁 significant advancement in sleep supplementation鈥� doesn鈥檛 cut it. Pay a man enough money and he鈥檒l say anything.
Take-home message:
- AGZ is an all-in-one powder you add to your beverage of choice that is claimed to help with sleep and it is made by the company behind the popular AG1 green smoothie powder
- The ingredients it contains have very little convincing scientific evidence behind them in terms of helping people with their sleep, and no study of AGZ itself has been released so far
