Rootana vs Abnormal

With an increased focus on sustainability, Rootana and Abnormal have been compared in more environmentally conscious circles. We both take pride in reducing our impact to the planet as much as possible, whilst not compromising on quality, but we’re not the same in every way. This begs the question, which one works best for you?

That’s exactly what we’ll be answering today for you, comparing both on their merits to see who comes out on top.

Category	Rootana	Abnormal
Calories Per Serving	400	350
Flavours	3	4
Protein	20-21g	30g
Fats	14-16g	7.7g
Carbs	43-44g	38g
Fibre	7-9g	10g
Micronutrients	27	26
Servings Per Pack	14	30
Vegan Friendly	Yes	Yes
Artificial Sweeteners	No	Yes
Subscription Available?	Yes	No
Single Purchase Available?	Yes	No

Rootana vs Abnormal Purchasing Options

Let’s talk first about what is probably the biggest difference between not only Rootana and Abnormal, but Abnormal and the rest of the industry (Did the name just suddenly make sense for you too?).

First of all, how do you buy Rootana? Well it’s rather simple, as you simply google “Rootana”, click the top link and then choose your favourite flavour and click “Order”.

How do you buy Abnormal? Well, it all starts off how you might expect with the google search “abnormal meal replacement” and clicking the corresponding link and all, but once you click anything to do with an order, you’re prompted to log in/ sign up.

Though it seems harmless enough, in our experience signing up for something like this typically leads to countless marketing emails even though the “email me about offers” box was left unticked. So far, we haven’t experienced this with Abnormal, but it’d be understandable if this turned some people away.

Once you put your details in, you’re prompted to fill in a questionnaire, which is essentially the core of the Abnormal experience. What this does is ask you general enough questions about your personal life to get an idea about your nutritional needs.

This has some positives, as the process of deciding your own nutritional needs would probably be quite stressful for a lot of people, so gathering that information and simply offering you an optimised meal is a fantastic way of mitigating that. That being said, it’s a far cry from quick and easy, and that added layer of complexity can be enough to turn people off.

It comes across as a lack of confidence and focus in the R&D department, and although you might get some extra vitamin D because you don’t go in the sun enough, or might get extra protein because you’re a muscle machine; there’s probably something far more focused and optimised out there that was designed with you in mind from the start. This feels like a catch-all band-aid solution, where a bandage would do better.

Rootana vs Abnormal Sustainability

One thing we really pride ourselves on at Rootana is sustainability, and that shines through everything we do. You can see it with our accessories, with metal scoops and shakers for sale that helps reduce plastic, to the reduced plastic packing. We even go so far as to include the most sustainable ingredients, such as oats being our primary source of carbohydrates [1], to yellow split beans boosting nitrogen in soil, making them fantastic for crop rotations [2].

As does everything with Abnormal, this sustainability is more of a choice than a company ethos, with us bizarrely being prompted “Would you like to reduce plastic packaging?” during the questionnaire. It’s not entirely clear what this would result in, as it could be as harmless as simply not including a plastic scoop, to as harmful as not using the brilliant paper packing for their single-serve sachets.

Beyond that the claims of sustainability are minimising food waste with a long shelf life and controlled portions, which is something we at Rootana adhere to as well, so Kudos for that.

Rootana vs Abnormal Sweeteners

One of the driving forces that prompted Rootana’s birth was our founder Robert loving the convenience of meal replacement shakes, but being less than thrilled with not only the taste of artificial sweeteners, but the very idea that he’d be digesting something artificial to begin with. At the time, it was very rare (and very expensive) to find a decent meal replacement shake that avoided having lots of sugar and stayed away from artificial sweeteners.

This guiding philosophy of nothing artificial might have caused some issues and complexities in the development, but it’s what we have to thank for the wonderful and natural taste of Rootana, which somehow managed to achieve all of this without compromising on quality or nutrition.

Abnormal have opted instead to include artificial sweeteners, which will be a bit of a let down for some. Sucralose was present in our tailored meal replacement, which is a zero calorie sweetener derived from natural sugar, and is 6 times as sweet.

There are some issues with this “safe” alternative to sugar however, which show its long-term effects are comparable. For example, both human and rodent studies demonstrated sucralose can alter glucose and insulin levels, increasing risk of obesity and diabetes [3].

This is why we instead included organic coconut sugar in Rootana, which doesn’t compromise on flavour yet provides a much lower GI score than sugar, meaning less blood sugar spikes, and is a lot more nutritious than regular sugar, containing plenty of helpful vitamins and minerals [4]. This allows us to provide a healthy, tasty drink without anything artificial in sight.

What About Taste? Price? Variety?

Taste is a fairly subjective topic but we will say that you do get that artificial taste with Abnormal, which is unfortunate, but they do have more variety with 4 choices of flavours.

In terms of pricing, Rootana comes in at £1.93 per meal on subscription and Abnormal comes in at £2.00 per meal. This sounds very close, but let’s look a bit deeper. Rootana offers 400 calories per serving, but Abnormal only offers 350, which is surprisingly low.

It’s also a fixed value, as our research shows this number is the same no matter how you answer the questionnaire. This means that, in order to

Conclusion

Abnormal is a fantastic meal replacement shake, and a testament to the founders creativity in not only the concept alone, but the execution, with very clever workarounds to what at first would appear quite rigid obstacles. That said, they’ve tried to please everyone, and in doing so have ended up with a great product that will be worthwhile to everyone, but is unlikely to be anyone’s favourite.

We’ve taken a different approach with Rootana, having clear goals from the outset to create an environmentally conscious, sustainable product that tastes great without resorting to anything artificial, all whilst providing a complete meal.