Can AG1 Drinks Lower High Cholesterol? The Answer Is Complicated

Endurance athletes remember AG1 as Athletic Greens more than a decade ago as a supplement to balance any nutritional deficiencies. Today, AG1 markets itself as a supplement for anyone wanting to improve their health. AG1 can replace your daily multivitamin, greens powder, and probiotic while adding extra B and C vitamins in a 50-calorie scoop.

AG1 isn't designed to lower high cholesterol, nor does it make any health claims to do so. However, the probiotics found in AG1 could help lower your cholesterol through your gut microbiome. Probiotics produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that block enzymes that produce cholesterol in the liver, according to a 2021 article in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Your body pulls cholesterol from your bloodstream to make bile acids, which can lower your cholesterol. Some probiotic bacteria absorb cholesterol, and other gut bacteria convert cholesterol into a substance that's excreted out of your body through your poop. Thus, AG1 might lower your cholesterol, depending on the types of probiotics in the drink.

AG1 says its prebiotics and probiotics support bowel regularity, immunity, and skin health while reducing bloating and gas. Lactobacillus acidophilus UALa-01 and Bifidobacterium bifidum UABb-10 are two types of probiotics found in AG1 to support your gut microbiome. A 2023 study in Nutraceuticals studied the synergy of these two strains of probiotics in a lab model and found that AG1's probiotics produced the SCFAs acetate and propionate. It's the propionate that can reduce the enzyme that produces cholesterol in the liver.

Probiotics in general have been found to reduce total cholesterol levels, according to a 2018 meta-analysis in Medicine (Baltimore). Out of 32 studies involved in the review, using a probiotic can reduce your total cholesterol by up to 13 points. The two probiotics found in AG1, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum, could lower your cholesterol by 8 points. The use of probiotics could have a more pronounced reduction in your total cholesterol if you already have high cholesterol. It's important to note, though, that this study did not include AG1's drinks and probiotics.

If you're looking to support your gut health, AG1 might help you. A 2024 study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition had 30 healthy people use AG1 for four weeks. Compared to a placebo, AG1 increased the beneficial gut bacteria (L. acidophilus, B. bifidum, and others) while reducing the less-healthy Clostridium strain of bacteria. The study found a trend in improved digestion, but it wasn't statistically significant. AG1's website says that it could take up to 90 days to feel the effects of AG1.

AG1 has many of the same vitamins and minerals as your multivitamin, and it also has digestive enzymes, antioxidants, herbs, and superfoods you might take as separate supplements. For example, some people might also take a coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) supplement to reduce the side effects of their cholesterol-lowering statins. Others might take ashwagandha to reduce their stress and anxiety. Both of these ingredients are found in AG1, but the amount of these ingredients is unclear because they're listed as part of a "proprietary blend." In other words, even though some of the ingredients found in AG1 might have scientific research supporting health benefits such as reducing anxiety or risk of chronic disease, there might not be enough of this ingredient in AG1 to support these health benefits. Therefore, any health claims made by social media influencers who are paid to market AG1 might not be backed by scientific evidence.