VeganSmart Protein Powder Review (Test Summary)

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vegansmart vegan protein powder review

Flavors: Chocolate, Vanilla, Wild berries, Chai

Naturade VeganSmart All-in-one Nutritional Shake is not primarily a protein powder, and yet I chose to try and review it anyways.

That’s because it has a substantial amount of protein for a general nutrition shake.

That being said, I held it to the same standards that I do for all normal plant based protein powders.

This review is divided into the 4 main factors behind buying a protein powder, complete with the formulas and methods used to determine the score for each.

If you’d like recommendations for a more conventional protein powder, take a look at the best overall vegan protein powders.

Protein Content of Vegan Smart’s Plant Based Powder

I always start with nutrition since the whole point of drinking a protein shake is to get protein.

The nutrition score for each powder I review is based on what percent of the total calories come from protein.

The higher the percentage of protein, the high the score.

These are relative scores among protein powders:

  • A score close to 0 means that a powder has a low protein content compared to other protein powders.
  • A score close to 25 means that a powder has as much protein as you’ll find in a vegan protein powder.

Here’s the formula that I use to calculate the nutrition score:

protein powder nutrition score test

The only variables it looks at is total calories, and calories of protein.

Both of these can be found on the nutrition label.

naturade vegansmart nutrition

Plugging in these numbers, we get a nutrition score of 14.

This means that compared to other vegan protein powders, VeganSmart has a relatively low amount of protein compared to total calories.

It still does have 20 grams per shake, which may be enough for you if you’re just looking for a protein shake as a casual way to get a little extra protein.

If you’re an athlete, you’ll probably want to go with a protein powder with a better nutrition score.

Ingredients

Part of the reason that VeganSmart scores so poorly here is that it’s an “all-in-one” powder, with a ton of ingredients:

  • Complete Protein Blend – Pea Protein Isolate, Quinoa Protein, Chia Protein, Potato Protein, Chlorella Protein
  • Fiber & Omega Blend – Inulin, Flax Seed Powder, Bamboo Fiber, Pea Fiber, Apple Fruit Fiber, Borage Oil
  • Vegan Energy Blend – Organic Cane Sugar, Sunflower Oil, Medium Chain Triglycerides, Organic Rice Syrup Solids
  • Whole Food Complex – Apricot, Mango, Raspberry, Carrot Root, Pineapple, Broccoli, Cabbage Leaf, Beet Root, Spinach Leaf
  • Digestive Enzyme Blend – Bromelain, Protease, Amylase, Lipase
  • Prebiotics – Aloe Vera Inner Leaf
  • Other – Natural Flavors, Organic Stevia, Xanthan Gum

I’ll let you decide if those extra ingredients are particularly important to you. It could really help any vegan with stomach problems.

In particular, I’d like to point that you can get 50% of your iron DV in a serving of VeganSmart. That can be important to avoiding issues like restless leg syndrome and vegan insomnia.

Cost of VeganSmart Vs Other Vegan Protein Powders

Next up is comparing the price of VeganSmart to other vegan protein powders.

To start with, VeganSmart comes in a few different confusing sizes. They’re all almost identical in size, but I technically found 3 different sizes while researching the product, which also depend on the flavor.

Here are the 2 most common sizes and the lowest price I could find for each:

  • 645 g / 1.4 lb
  • 690 g / 1.5 lb

In order to calculate a pricing score, I developed a simple formula that adjusts the price per 100 grams of a protein powder to a score out of 25. A high score is a good thing, it means it’s cheaper.

pricing score formula

To fairly compare all the products, I use the price per 100 grams of the size closest to 1 kg (2.2 lbs), which is the most widely used size.

Putting in the pricing data above, we get a pricing score of 16.15.

This means that VeganSmart is on the cheaper side of vegan protein powders, although it’s pretty close to the average.

How Well Does VeganSmart Mix?

This is the final factor that I can objectively calculate.

Being able to mix well is an important property of a protein powder in most situations. Unless you always plan on using a blender, you want a powder that won’t clump.

To test this property, I extract the clumps and measure how much they weigh in a realistic scenario.

Here are the basic steps:

  1. Add 450 mL, then 35 grams of protein powder to a shaker bottle.
  2. Shake for 45 seconds.
  3. Pour shake through strainer to collect clumps.
  4. Weight the clumps (“remnants”).

That final weight is put into the following formula to generate a mixability score:

vegan protein powder mixing test

This powder mixes really well, and there were no clumps to even weight.

It gets a straightforward, perfect mixability score of 25.

Taste Testing VeganSmart

Finally we come to taste.

You very well may have different tastes than me, which makes this difficult.

To make the taste score as useful as possible, I assign a score based on this table:

Taste Score Meaning
25 Amazing, would drink for enjoyment alone.
20 Very good.
15 Drinkable, not really good or bad.
10 A bit of a struggle to get down
5 Quite bad

The table helps to keep my ratings consistent.

In addition, I try to explain my thoughts behind each taste rating so you can decide if it makes sense to you.

For VeganSmart, I had a few main observations:

  • The texture was great, there was only a bit of chalkiness, which is common in protein powders.
  • The taste is pretty good, but I’ve tasted better, similar vanilla shakes.
  • There’s a bit of an aftertaste, it’s not terrible, but it’s not pleasant.

Those issues rule out a perfect score for sure.

I think it could be ranked anywhere from 15-20 depending on the person, but personally I felt it was significantly closer to 15.

Therefore, I assigned a taste rating of 15 to this protein powder.

Summary and Overall Review Impressions

Overall, as far as a vegan protein powder goes, VeganSmart is very average.

It mixes great, but that’s balanced out by having a very weak protein content.

Both taste and price are slightly above average, but nothing special.

I think that VeganSmart is a great protein powder if you detest clumps, or are looking for a casual vegan protein powder that also gives you vitamins, minerals, and digestive enzymes.

VeganSmart Alternatives to Consider

VeganSmart has a lot going for it if you’re interested in additional nutrition other than just protein, but lacks in important areas that we’ve looked at. Here are some alternatives that taste better, have more protein, and some extra nutrition.

  1. PlantFusion – PlantFusion is one of my favorite overall vegan protein powders, and it also has an enzyme blend designed to aid digestion. I highly recommend it for just about anyone, and you can see my testing results in my PlantFusion review.
  2. MRM Veggie Elite – MRM Veggie Elite is a solid protein powder (Overall rating of 77/100), that also has an enzyme blend to help digestion. Additionally, it has 46% of your daily iron in each serving. To see the specific nutritional details, see my full MRM Veggie Elite review.
  3. Purely Inspired Organic Protein – This is the best overall organic protein that I tried. The taste is average, but it has a ton of iron, as well as a probiotic blend and enzyme blend. Here’s my full Purely Inspired review if you’d like to learn more.

About the author

Dale Cudmore

Your friendly neighborhood vegan from Toronto. I've spent over 6 years as a freelance nutrition writer and researcher. During this time, I've tested over 50 vegan protein powders, and over 100 other types of vegan supplements.