DELVE SERIES 5 - POWDER KEG: Some stories grow from a green shoot; some explode like a powder keg. The global supplement market is worth $200 billion a year, an...
We’ve come 12,000 kilometres from Auckland to Medellín, on the trail of Chris Ashenden, the chief executive of AG1. We don’t have his number or his address, but we think he lives here. Today’s Medellín is a vibrant city that’s attracting new investment and faces from around the world – but the legacy of drug lord Pablo Escobar and the paramilitaries still echoes in violence on the streets. You might expect us to pack Kevlar body armour for our visit. Instead, we pack our gym gear – because one thing we do know about Chris the Kiwi, is where he works out.Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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S5 | Powder Keg | Ep 9: Chopped Liver
The US Food and Drug Administration reveals it’s received 118 adverse event complaints from AG1 users – this year alone. In particular, there are 30-plus reports of liver harm in 2023 and 2024. The billion dollar company dismisses the liver harm complaints as “extremely rare”, saying it can be caused by a range of things such as alcoholic liver injury, viral hepatitis and autoimmune disease. The FDA hasn’t investigated the complaints to confirm whether they are indeed caused by AG1 – but some consumers and scientists are calling for an official investigation into this glamour product championed by superstar influencers.Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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S5 | Powder Keg | Ep 8: The Powder Of Science
We talk to people like Andy and Lisa who’ve used AG1 – and they’re not happy. They want to know what’s in the green powder supplement, in what quantities – and whether there’s any scientific evidence it has any health benefits. That’s a good question. So we bring in four world-leading university nutritionists and toxicologists to critique the research. They’re concerned there’s no gold standard large-scale clinical trial – and most of AG1’s published research is in a few controversial pay-to-play journals. The professors warn consumers can have little confidence there’s any credible science underpinning this expensive daily supplement.Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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S5 | Powder Keg | Ep 7: Played In NZ
For years, AG1 has boasted of being ‘Made in New Zealand’. But where is its mystery factory? We track down a little-known contract manufacturing company in the sunny city of Nelson – and discover a much darker story. Despite trading off New Zealand’s clean, green brand, AG1 has been quietly shifting its production to America. In the past year, this has cost nearly 180 New Zealanders their jobs – and piqued the interest of the country’s commerce regulator. If AG1’s 700,000 customers can’t trust the ‘Made in New Zealand’ claim – how can they trust the other claims on the label? Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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S5 | Powder Keg | Ep 6: Marketing Mania
Joe Rogan is one of the world’s wealthiest influencers – and we’re told AG1 is one of his best clients, paying him about $10 million a year to promote its popular green powder. Scientist Dr Andrew Huberman gets about $2 million. Gwyneth Paltrow, Formula 1’s Sir Lewis Hamilton, Olympic champion Allyson Felix … the list goes on. AG1 is the OG of influencer marketing; it spends more on audio than just about any other company in the world. But are the company and its well-paid ambassadors being upfront? Some customers say they’ve been persuaded to drink a supplement that they now believe has impacted their health. The Food and Drug Administration has had 118 reports of harm from AG1 users and their doctors, this year alone. Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
DELVE SERIES 5 - POWDER KEG: Some stories grow from a green shoot; some explode like a powder keg. The global supplement market is worth $200 billion a year, and Chris Ashenden is a rock star of the industry. Yet in his home country of New Zealand, nobody had heard of him. Investigative journalist Jonathan Milne wanted to tell his story – but when Chris proved elusive, alarm bells began to ring. In the latest electrifying podcast from DELVE, we investigate the superstar endorsements, the science and the safety of the world’s favourite green powder, AG1. Listen to a story that will entangle the biggest names in audio, from Joe Rogan to Andrew Huberman to Gwyneth Paltrow. We follow the money, dig into the crimes and commission our own lab analysis. From the chill of the Southern Ocean to a record Mexican heatwave, from Colombia to the Caribbean, we chase down AG1’s founder to tell the story he didn’t want told. DELVE SERIES 4 - FRACTURED SEASON 1: A baby taken, a mother jailed, a couple forced apart and facing deportation without their daughter. Crushed by the weight of multiple government departments working in lockstep, what happens when the dream of a new country becomes an unimaginable nightmare? In this new investigation, Melanie Reid and her team take the x-rays that were used to convict a young mother and put them before international experts, who tell us this case is just the tip of the iceberg of a factitious medical phenomenon leading to injustice around the globe.DELVE SERIES 1-3 - THE BOY IN THE WATER SEASONS 1-3: Melanie Reid's chart topping podcast takes you inside a small town harbouring a big mystery. After the lifeless body of three-year-old Lachie Jones is found floating in an oxidation pond in the Southland town of Gore, police rule his death a tragic accident. But nothing is what it seems. Melanie has spent three years covering this case, revealing multiple flaws in the police investigation and uncovering new evidence that casts serious doubt about the circumstances surrounding Lachie’s death. In The Boy in the Water, Melanie unravels the case – and the secrets – in an attempt to find out what really happened to little Lachie Jones. Sign up to our premium service DELVE+ on Apple, Spotify or your favourite podcast platform. DELVE+ subscribers get Early Release, Ad Free listening.Led by investigations editor, Melanie Reid. Listen to journalism that matters.Discover more on the Melanie Reid Investigates Facebook and Instagram pages, and on Newsroom.co.nz.(Android and Spotify listeners can also Sign up to DELVE+ .) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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