Shopping editors famously—or notoriously, depending on whom you ask—get a lot of stuff. We hunch over our laptops between mountains of cardboard boxes like cave trolls and are besties with the mail room team. My workspace is currently filled with sky-high stacks of pots and pans, but before joining Bon Appétit, I worked as a health and wellness editor, and my desk was covered with vitamin and supplement samples. And in eight years of testing these powders, pills, and potions, there's only one that I liked enough to then spend my own money on: Grüns superfood gummies.
Positioned as an alternative to greens powders, Grüns are single-serve packets of vitamin-rich gummies made from fruits and vegetables like kale, spinach, spirulina, strawberries, and more. Each eight-gummy pack contains 100% of your daily recommended value of vitamins A, C, D, and E, folate, biotin, and doses of iron, zinc, and other nutrients.
But the thing is, they actually taste good. I look forward to Grüns O’Clock each day (as I chime out to my coworkers, to their delight and chagrin—again, depending on whom you ask), usually when I’m craving something sweet after lunch. Many of my colleagues are now hooked, too, as is my husband; when I come home from work, I find his Grüns wrappers littering our living room.
While Grüns’s great taste is undeniable—a very unscientific survey conducted by moi found that nine out of 10 BA staffers approve—the brand’s lofty health promises are murkier. “Despite the radical claims, taking a gummy like Grüns is simply not going to ‘transform your health,’” says registered dietitian Tracy Lockwood Beckerman, author of The Better Period Food Solution. “As most health professionals agree, a [product] like this is meant to supplement a healthy and balanced diet.”
Below, Beckerman helps break down the benefits you can realistically expect to see when you take a multivitamin or greens product like Grüns.
How can Grüns support your health?
As Beckerman says, health professionals will always recommend you get your nutrients from whole foods (not products derived from whole foods) as much as possible. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for supplementation in a healthy regimen. A powder or gummy can help you ”cover your bases,” Beckerman says.
“It can also get you closer to meeting your nutritional requirements throughout the day,” she says. “If you feel like you haven’t seen bright colored veggies in your routine or have been lacking in the salad department, a gummy like this would feel appropriate and convenient to integrate.” That’s how I think of the gummies; I use them instead of taking a daily multivitamin, not as a snack or to replace my veggies. (And since they’re prepackaged as single servings, they’re super easy to pop in my bag or stash in my desk drawer.)
Beckerman also says that folks who follow a strict vegan diet can sometimes have a hard time eating enough nuts, seeds, beans, and other plants to get the recommended amount of some nutrients—vitamin B12, zinc, iron, and folate in particular. So in this case, Grüns can fill in the gaps.
Just remember: You should talk to your doctor before adding any supplements to your diet to make sure they won’t interact poorly with your medications or contain ingredients you’re allergic to.
Who might Grüns not be a fit for, according to an RD?
Beckerman stresses that, when it comes to well-being, there is no silver bullet nor “easy way out.” With this in mind, “people who eat mostly processed foods, skip meals, or barely cook should not take this type of product,” she says. “Relying on a supplement doesn’t motivate that person to make dietary or lifestyle changes that are in favor of whole, real foods and healthy habits.”
According to Beckerman, the herbs and adaptogens in this product also make them unsuitable for people who are pregnant or trying to conceive. And because Grüns gummies contain sugar without the protein or fats needed to break it down, they’re not recommended for folks with insulin resistance, who have blood sugar management issues, or those with prediabetes or diabetes.
If you have a sensitive stomach or are prone to gastrointestinal problems, you also might want to take Grüns with caution. “While I appreciate that the company doesn’t pump their nutrient daily values into the 1000x-daily-recommended amounts, there are still a ton of cooks in the kitchen,” Beckerman says. Packing vitamins, minerals, prebiotics, fiber, and adaptogens into single-serve gummies “may sound efficient at a glance, but it could be a lot for the digestive system to handle at once,” she says. “This could lead to gas, bloating, or abdominal pain.”
My experience with Grüns
I’ve been popping a pack of Grüns almost daily for over six months now—here’s what I like, what I don’t, and how I’m feeling.
Taste
I genuinely enjoy the taste of Grüns’s flagship “low sugar” superfood gummies, which the brand refers to as “fresh and sweet.” A veritable farmers market’s worth of fruits (including apple, raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, goji berry, pomegranate, and others) add a natural sweetness without being cloying, the same way a splash of juice will keep your green smoothie from tasting like puréed spinach.
I’ll add that I generally stan gummy candy; for me, trips to the movies require a bag of Sour Patch Watermelon, and many a college all-nighter was fueled by Haribo (a long, long time ago). And Grüns’s texture is super satisfying. Firm and toothsome but not grainy, they remind me of the shark-shaped fruit snacks I downed as a kid. The gummies are completely vegan, so they achieve this chew with pectin rather than gelatin.
I also tried the sugar-free variety (the “low-sugar” kind contains eight grams of added sugars, which isn’t insignificant) and both the low- and no-sugar versions of Grüns’s limited edition raspberry lemonade flavor. None were as tasty as the original.
Cost and ordering process
At nearly $80 for a bag of 28 packs, Grüns are expensive (the price tag is similar to a month’s supply of AG1 greens powder, but significantly more than what your average multivitamin gummy will run you). However, Grüns does have a few promotions available to help make them more affordable: Opting into the brand’s newsletter can save you 52% on your first order and signing up for auto-ship reduces the price by 40%.
Because my husband and I were both hooked after polishing off that first sample bag Grüns gifted me, I signed us up for a two-person subscription, which ships two bags (of 28 packets) every four weeks. However, my second shipment was sent less than a month after I received my first (I’m not sure why), so I developed a backlog of Grüns. Pausing my subscription so I could catch up with my supply was easy to do via the website.
Benefits
I do feel like I’ve experienced some of the positives the brand advertises. First and least glamorously, I’ve found my digestion is more, let’s say, regular when I’m taking the gummies. (Constipation? I don’t know her!)
I also began my Grüns journey during a period of heavier-than-normal (for me) hair shedding, and I’ve noticed less hair loss since I've begun eating the gummies. I want to be honest, this could be a complete coincidence. While research shows that certain vitamin deficiencies—such as iron, riboflavin, biotin, and in some cases, vitamin D—can be associated with hair loss, there is not sufficient evidence to support the idea that supplementation of these nutrients fuels hair growth.
The bottom line
I’m not delusional—Grüns are not Sour Patch Kids nor are they chocolate nor any sort of dessert replacement. But they do satisfy my afternoon sweet tooth, which means I can easily sate my post-lunch candy craving with a pack.
And with Beckerman’s advice playing like a refrain in my mind, I try to eat a varied, balanced diet with plenty of fresh produce. But on busy days when breakfast is a protein bar or dinner is a plate of emotional-support mozzarella sticks, I feel better knowing I have a nutritional safety net with my Grüns.