Is Shakeology worth the price?

Hi Stephanie,

Here's a quote from what appears to be one of the Shakeology websites:

"The Shakeology meal replacement drink by Beachbody is a delicious, daily nutritional shake that gently helps your body eliminate toxins while improving essential vitamin and nutrient absorption. Drinking a daily Shakeology shake has been shown to lower cholesterol, improve digestion and regularity, boost energy levels, and dramatically increase weight loss."

I've seen so many products over the years and so many claims. My opinion is that the best way to guard against being scammed is to live by the motto: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is". Now, I'm not saying that this product is bogus or doesn't have any health benefits but my (excuse the expression) "B.S. detector" is on high alert! I'm just waiting for them to discover the easy solution to world peace next!?

First let's deal with the statement that everyone should be wary of - "eliminate toxins" (often referred to as "detox", etc). Here's a partial reprint of a previous answer that dealt with detox:

I'm not a big fan of the word "detox". It seems to imply that certain types of foods actually help the body remove toxins. The only things I know of that do this (and only in specific circumstances) are coffee, whey protein and a supplement called NAC (N-acetyl cysteine).

Ironically, coffee probably has the broadest effect in this regard and is often the first thing that "detox" diet "gurus" tell people to cut out of their diets.

The fact is, no diet or other supplement outside of the ones above has been shown to cause any actual "detoxification" of the body in a legitimate, scientific study and even these ones won't do much in the short term or outside of specific circumstances.

So use of the word "detox" is often an indicator that the person recommending the diet or product has no idea what they are talking about!

Also, I would be surprised if there were any good evidence that Shakeology increases vitamin and nutrient absorption - your body already absorbs most nutrients perfectly effectively, it's the fact that most people don't actually "eat" the right nutrients in the first place that's the problem.

Having said this, I would NOT be surprised if people who have a Shakeology drink instead of an unhealthy meal decreased their cholesterol, increased their energy, etc. but
you could probably get just as good or better results by combining about 100 to 200 millilitres of a good, mixed berry smoothie with about 20 grams of whey protein (mixed as directed with water).

Shakeology does contain some useful, healthy, antioxidant, plant extracts and actually contains a broad spectrum of "phytochemicals" (plant chemicals) that would likely be a good addition to your diet but until they compare it to my whey + berry smoothie drink in a proper study and get better results, I'll stick with my Whey Smoothie thanks.