AG1 (company)
American food supplement company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AG1, formerly known as Athletic Greens, is an American company whose best known product is a brand of a daily health supplement in powder form of the same name. The company was founded in 2010 by Chris Ashenden, a former New Zealand police officer.[1] The product is advertised as a green powder that combines multiple supplements to meet a consumer's nutritional needs.[2] It heavily relies on influencer marketing, particularly on podcasts.[3] Its usefulness as a dietary supplement has been subject of criticism, with critics questioning the company’s claims regarding the product's effectiveness, and high price.[4][3]
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| |
| Formerly | Athletic Greens |
|---|---|
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Food processing |
| Founded | December 2010 |
| Founder | Chris Ashenden |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | |
| Key people | Kat Cole, CEO |
| Products | Supplements |
Number of employees |
|
| Website | drinkag1 |
History
Athletic Greens was founded in 2010 by Chris Ashenden, a former New Zealand police officer.[1] The company is registered in Nevada.[5]
Athletic Greens focused on a single product, a powdered supplement containing 75 ingredients called AG1 and followed a direct-to-consumer subscriber model.[6] Between 2010 and 2024, the product's formula changed more than 50 times seeking to increase its wellness benefits.[7] The product is NSF International Certified for Sport.[8]
In December 2021, Athletic Greens hired Kat Cole, former president and COO of Focus Brands as its President and COO and rebranded as AG1.[6] The company reported a revenue growth from US$160 million in 2021 to roughly US$600 million in 2024.[7]
Ashenden resigned from the company in 2024 after his 2011 criminal convictions for a housing scam in New Zealand became public.[3][9] Cole became CEO.[5]
Paulie Dery, formerly of Yeti, was hired as CMO in 2024,[10] and Ralph Esposito as Chief Science and Nutrition Officer in 2025.[11]
Investments and partnerships
AG1 uses influencer marketing to promote its supplements.[3] In particular, the company has focused heavily on podcast advertising.[12] It uses affiliate marketing to give content creators a cut of sales referred by them.[13] Tim Ferriss was one of the first podcasters to promote the product and later became an investor in the company.[12] The product has been popular on TikTok and has had celebrity investors including Hugh Jackman, Cindy Crawford and Lewis Hamilton.[11]
AG1 has partnered with Ripper GC of the LIV Golf League, Andrew Huberman, Joe Rogan, and Lex Fridman.[14][4][15] As of January 2025, the company is valued at US$1.2 billion.[3]
Controversy
The health benefits of consuming AG1 have been criticised.[16][3] The scientific methods that are used by AG1 to claim nutritional efforts were criticized by JoAnn Manson, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, as lacking scientific "rigor":
These are very small randomized trials. Just as a comparison, we do large-scale randomized clinical trials of many dietary supplements... For a multivitamin, we did a randomized control with 15,000 participants for 11 years to document that there was, in fact, a significant reduction in cancer incidence when taking the multivitamin compared to placebo ... That's what I'm talking about when I say rigor.[3]
Charlotte Martin, a dietitian and author, makes the statement that the amount of individual nutrients that a user absorbs is insignificant due to the addition of a relatively large quantity of ingredients present in the powdered mixture.[3]
According to Jonathan Jarry of McGill University, the AG1 blend is backed by very little scientific support and has a high cost (around $79 USD per month in 2024) relative to any likely benefit offered.[4]
Other critics have pointed out that a significant number of AG1 ingredients' dosages are not disclosed on the label as they are considered "proprietary".[3]