Since 2009, Shakeology has been a pioneer in the nutrition industry, continually evolving our formula to provide our customers with the absolute best way to get your daily dose of vital nutrients, all in a delicious shake.
What sets Shakeology apart is its unwavering commitment to quality, with one goal in mind: to help you look and feel your healthiest.
That’s why we take an uncompromising approach to sourcing and formulating Shakeology.
Read on to learn how our formula has improved over time and why Shakeology continues to lead the industry after more than 15 years.
Why We Make Continual Improvements to the Shakeology Formula
Unlike other shake brands that buy pre-mixed ingredient blends from third-party suppliers, we meticulously select each and every ingredient for Shakeology’s superfood blends to make sure you get the greatest possible health benefits from every scoop.
When brands rely on premade blends, they don’t have a say in each individual ingredient, including its amount, potency, or even where it comes from. This low-cost approach does not work for Shakeology.
We care about every ingredient all the way from farm to bag and know you do, too. We also know that you are investing in your health. That’s why we have always prioritized quality over cost.
Has Shakeology Changed Since It Launched in 2009?
Over the years, we’ve updated the Shakeology formula in order to maintain an unparalleled level of nutrition and quality.
As supply chains and growing conditions change, we refuse to make compromises when an ingredient, supplier, or process no longer meets our standards.
Likewise, nutritional science is always advancing, and as it does, we evolve with it.
We will continue to update Shakeology’s formula when change is the right thing to do for our customers, because we know the nutrition you put into your body is one of the most important daily decisions you can make. It’s why we’ve sold over a billion servings.
What Goes into the Decisions to Update the Shakeology Formula?
Every month, Shakeology co-creators Isabelle Daikeler and Darin Olien meet with our dedicated research and development (R&D) team to evaluate the current Shakeology formula and identify potential improvements.
Some of the reasons they may consider updating the formula include:
- Ingredient quality: We constantly test our suppliers’ ingredients for contaminants, fillers, lookalikes, mold, heavy metals, and more. In fact, our tests are so stringent, suppliers have been known to set aside their best crops for us. And if suppliers can’t give us the quality we demand, we look elsewhere or remove it from Shakeology — even when our competitors don’t.
- Scientific evidence: New research findings on specific nutrients or ingredients and their potential benefits can often drive formula updates. Unlike most companies, Shakeology conducts clinical studies to better understand and improve our product’s health benefits.
- Consumer feedback: Shakeology takes customer satisfaction very seriously. Sometimes, we may modify the formula based on feedback regarding taste, texture, benefits, or any number of factors.
What Recent Updates Have Been Made to the Shakeology Formula?
Shakeology Original: Our last formula change to Original Shakeology was made in 2019 for Vegan flavors and 2020 for Whey flavors.
This update removed oat protein, chia, and sacha inchi, and added more probiotics, fiber, flaxseed, and matcha, in order to improve the nutritional value of Shakeology while addressing contaminant concerns of certain ingredients.
- Heart & gut health: These formula changes boosted Shakeology’s dietary fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, probiotics, and green tea phytonutrients to help better support gut and heart health.
- Gluten-free: We added a “gluten free” claim with the update. This came from removing oat protein from the Vegan formula and improving our testing so that we could label Shakeology “gluten free” with confidence. Although oats are naturally gluten-free, they can often be contaminated with gluten.
Shakeology 0g Added Sugar: In 2024, we launched Shakeology 0g Added Sugar, which took countless hours to develop to ensure it has all the same benefits as Original Shakeology, tastes just as good, and uses high-quality ingredients, just like the original. You can learn about the formula differences here.
The trickiest part of getting the 0g Added Sugar formula right was selecting the right natural sweetener to use in place of organic cane sugar, to provide the delicious taste our customers expect from Shakeology.
We chose the highest-grade stevia, Reb M. It has the cleanest taste that’s most similar to sugar and is sourced from farmers who have learned how to grow and harvest stevia responsibly. The Reb M that we use is also non-GMO Project Verified.
Shakeology Was Considered “Too Expensive to Make”
When Shakeology launched in 2009, there was nothing else like it on the market, and despite dozens of copycats, it’s still that way today.
Even though there were plenty of protein shakes out there, Shakeology is the original superfood shake, painstakingly crafted to deliver all-in-one, whole-food-based nutrition that people still don’t get from the average diet.
When environmental advocate and supplement formulator Darin Olien (the world’s first superfood hunter) set out to create the highest-quality and most potent shake he could imagine, everyone told him it was too expensive to make.
For Olien, Shakeology wasn’t just about sourcing the world’s healthiest superfoods. It was about finding the best crop quality as well.
That’s when he was put in touch with co-formulator Isabelle Brousseau-Daikeler and Carl Daikeler, CEO of BODi, who, unbeknownst to him, were working toward a similar goal.
“Carl said, ‘Don’t worry about cost. We’re not going to compromise on this formula,’” remembers Olien. It’s a promise that Shakeology still makes good on today.
Why Are There Natural Flavors in Shakeology? Isn’t Darin Against Them?
Shakeology co-creator Darin Olien is very outspoken about his distaste for many natural flavors, and it’s a viewpoint shared by everyone at Shakeology.
In the U.S., natural flavors can contain additives and solvents that are considered natural and are generally recognized as safe by the FDA.
However, just because they’re permitted by the FDA doesn’t mean we put them in Shakeology.
Shakeology only uses natural flavors derived from plants and extracted using traditional processes such as copper distillation, percolation, or spinning cone (low temperature process for sensitive flavors).
These methods simply concentrate the flavor components so they can be used at low levels to enhance the taste, similar to a chef making a reduction or a coulis.
What Natural Flavors Are Used in Shakeology?
Take Vanilla Shakeology, for example.
After launching Chocolate Whey Shakeology in 2009, it took two years to create Vanilla Whey Shakeology, because it took that long to find a vanilla supplier that met our rigorous standards.
Natural flavors might be the latest ingredient to go under the microscope, but the reality is, the quality of every single ingredient on a label depends on the brand’s sourcing and testing standards.
That’s why when you look at an ingredient label, it’s hard to know what you’re really getting. Two products with the same ingredient list can have very different contents. And that’s what makes the difference between Shakeology and everything else on the market.
Get Results You Can See and Feel With Shakeology
Shakeology’s journey is a testament to our unwavering commitment to quality and innovation.
From its inception in 2009 to the present day, Shakeology has evolved with the latest scientific research and consumer feedback to ensure it remains the best superfood shake on the market.
Our dedication to using only the highest-quality ingredients and maintaining rigorous standards is what puts Shakeology in a category of its own.
It’s the reason why no other shake provides as many health benefits and noticeable results — and why we stand behind our 31-day bottom-of-the-bag guarantee.
As we continue to refine and improve our formula, you can trust that Shakeology will always prioritize your health and well-being above all else, for a difference you can taste and feel.
