Flavors: Natural Vanilla, Natural Chocolate, Unflavoured
Iron Vegan’s Athlete’s Blend is another Canadian-made vegan protein powder.
They differentiate this product from others by using all organic non-GMO proteins. It’s also “all natural,” gluten free, and kosher.
I realize the overall score for this powder may seem harsh at first, but I have good reasons for all of them. I’ve broken down each score in each section, and it’s almost all done using formulas (to minimize my bias) that you can replicate if you’d like.
If you think my testing methodology is fair, you can see which protein powders actually scored well on it on my page of the top tasting vegan protein powders.
Table of Contents
Iron Vegan Protein Content and Nutrition
The way I calculate the nutrition score is to divide the calories from protein, by the overall calories.
The higher the protein content, the better. If 80% of the calories or more come from protein, it gets a perfect score.
Here’s the simple formula:
This is one protein powder where the nutritional label doesn’t quite add up:
With 30 grams of protein (120 calories), and 190 calories overall in a serving, that leaves this powder with a nutrition score of 17. This is right around the middle of the range, meaning that it’s reasonable, but many powders beat it.
Ingredients
The one thing that my formula admittedly doesn’t take into account is the ingredient quality.
Here’s the full Ingredients list (for the Chocolate flavor):
- Organic Sprouted Brown Rice Protein, Organic Fermented Pea Protein Isolate, Vegan Fermented L-Glutamine, Vegan Fermented L-Leucine, Vegan Fermented L-Isoleucine, Vegan Fermented L-Valine, Taurine, Beet Root, Quercetin(e), Zinc, Organic Fair Trade Cocoa, Organic Chocolate and Vanilla Flavours, Apple Pectin, Xanthan Gum, Organic Stevia Leaf Extract, Sea Salt.
Fair trade cocoa is important to a lot of vegans, and not many other protein powders use it.
Similarly, if you value organic ingredients highly, maybe add a few mental bonus points to the overall score.
Cost of Iron Vegan Compared to Other Plant Based Powders
I’ve looked at and bought a ton of different vegan protein powders to try, but very few come close to the price of this one.
There’s only one size (1 kg / 2.2 lb) of this particular protein as far as I know. I looked at the prices on a few Canadian stores, and they all had a similar price. I’ve listed the cost on Amazon (free shipping), as it’s convenient for most.
I use a simple pricing formula based on the cost per 100 grams of the size closest to 1 kg. In this case, the only size fits well.
Here’s the formula:
If you plug in the numbers, after converting the price to USD (to accurately compare price scores), you’ll see that it actually gets a score of 7.
Basically, what this means, is that if you care at all about the price of your protein powder, do not buy this one.
Mixability of Iron Vegan
No one likes chunks in their protein shake, as it makes it taste worse. Or, if the protein gets stuck on the sides of your shaker or blender, you’re just wasting protein.
In order to measure the mixability of a powder, I follow this procedure:
- Measure and add the weight of a serving size
- Add 450 mL of almond milk
- Shake vigorously for 60 seconds in a standard shaker bottle
- Pour out the liquid, then scrape and weigh the remnants
I do this test for both almond milk coming from the fridge, and then again for room temperature almond milk.
Then, I plug in the numbers into this formula:
My test left 2 grams of remnants, giving this powder a mixability score of 19. This is the one solid aspect of this product.
Taste of Iron Vegan
Finally, there’s the only purely subjective part of this review – taste.
I use the following scale to judge taste, in score increments of 5.
| 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 |
Overall, I try not to be too harsh, since it is only my opinion.
Based on the taste of my protein shake after I filtered out the chunks, I gave it a 5.
The protein has a sort of slimy (a pudding-like taste) to it once mixed. I had a few friends try it, and they weren’t fans of the texture either.
The flavor itself is okay, but the chocolate seemed a little off. Perhaps you could get used to it? Personally, I just feel that if you’re paying so much more than other protein powders, it should taste really good.
Other Protein Powders You’d Probably Prefer
I wouldn’t recommend Iron Vegan Athlete’s Blend to anyone, at least not with its current formula. It’s far from the best vegan protein powder in Canada.
So there are several supplements that I would recommend ahead of it. However, if I had to pick 3, these would be them:
- Plantfusion (86/100 rating overall) – You won’t find PlantFusion in any brick and mortar stores in Canada, but you can order it online (although shipping is expensive). It’s the best overall vegan powder that I tried, and is also the best tasting. Here’s my full PlantFusion protein powder review.
- Canadian Protein All Natural Blend (83/100 rating overall for Canadians) – This is a solid overall option for Canadians, and it’s really cheap if you order it in bulk. Here’s my full Canadian Protein All Natural Blend powder review with more details.
- Vega Sport (82/100 rating overall for Canadians) – Vega Sport is on the expensive side, but you can also find it at most Canadian grocery stores, and often on sale. It tastes great and has a high protein content. Here’s my Vega Sport review with a full breakdown.
Summary and Overall Impressions
The price is incredibly high, which may prevent you from ever trying it.
On top of that, it doesn’t mix very well (be prepared to always use a blender), and the taste is mediocre.
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this protein powder unless the ingredient type and quality is an absolute must for you.
