As someone who has maintained a plant-based diet for the past eight years, it’s important that I pay attention to whether I’m getting all the vitamins and minerals I need from what I eat, and using supplements to fill in any nutritional gaps. So when I heard about the $180 Mixfit V2, a Keurig-like smart kitchen appliance that blends up personalized nutrition drinks, I was intrigued. The Mixfit combines 23 essential nutrients in drinks that aim to help you fill in the gaps in your diet and meet your health goals. You use an app to specify your goals, log your daily food intake, and connect a compatible fitness tracker to monitor your activity levels. Based on this data, an algorithm identifies the nutrients your body is lacking, and creates a drink to give you what you need.
While I really like Mixfit’s goal to deliver personalized nutrition on a regular basis, using the machine itself is messy, the food-logging process is tedious, and at $49 per month for nutrient packs, it’s expensive. With some refinement, the Mixfit V2 could be a compelling alternative to more traditional supplements, but for now, I’d stick with a regular multivitamin.
The Machine and Subscriptions
The second-generation Mixfit machine I tested costs $180, plus $49 per month for a Core Pack subscription, which includes the vitamin and mineral packets and flavoring syrup you need to make drinks. Mixfit also offers a three-month subscription option, which saves you 10% compared with paying month to month, and family plans for two to five people. At the time of this writing, Mixfit is running a promotion offering the machine for free with a three-month subscription, or any of its family plans.
The Mixfit machine measures about 15 by 13 by 8 inches (WHD) and weighs around 9 pounds. I have a small kitchen with limited counter space, and the Mixfit fits in just fine. It has a black plastic design with a 1-liter water tank on the side and an opening in the middle where you place an included blender cup. Under the lid are six removable canisters you fill with vitamin and mineral powers.
The Core Pack comes with 10 premixed nutrient packets, which together contain 23 essential vitamins and minerals, as well as plant protein. Each packet is numbered 1 through 6, and you put it in the appropriate canister. You get two packets each of numbers 1, 2, 4, and 6, and one packet each of numbers 3 and 5. Below is a breakdown of what each packet contains:
Packet 1: thiamine, riboflavin (B2), panthotenic acid, pyridoxine (B6), biotin, cyanocobalamin (B12), ascorbic acid (Vit C), calcium
Packet 2: beta carotene, vitamin D2, vitamin E, vitamin K1, calcium
Packet 3: calcium, copper, iron, phosphorus, manganese
Packet 4: calcium, iodine, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc
Packet 5: niacin, folic acid, cyanocobalamin (B12), calcium
Packet 6: pea protein, pumpkin protein, rice protein, magnesium
The drinks contain prebiotic, but not probiotic. The Core Pack also comes with two flavoring syrup pouches.
Mixfit plans to offer whey protein as an option in the future, but hasn’t started to do so yet. So right now, the drinks are all completely vegan.
Your subscription automatically renews your Core Packs when your device is running low. I typically take one multivitamin a day and one 2,500-microgram B-12 tablet a week. Together, those two supplements add up to around $15 per month, so Mixfit’s $49 monthly price well exceeds what I typically pay for my basic vitamins. I also occasionally drink protein shakes, but I’m not considering the cost of protein powder in my comparison, as Mixfit’s drinks provide very little protein (1 gram per glass) and aren’t a replacement for protein shakes.
If it’s the subscription aspect of Mixfit that appeals to you, it’s also worth considering a service like Pill Pack. The online pharmacy and delivery service puts your vitamins and/or medications into packets and labels them with the date and time you should take them, so you don’t accidentally miss a dose.
Setting Up the Mixfit
Setting up the Mixfit machine and app was a somewhat tedious and messy process that took me nearly two hours. An instruction manual walks you through the process, and this site offers video tutorials.
To set up the Mixfit, you fill the water tank, connect the power plug, switch on the device, and a blue light should illuminate. The blue light means that either the cup, main lid, or water tank is missing, or that there’s not enough water in the tank to make a drink. A white light means the device is ready, and a red light indicates a malfunction of some sort.
Next, you remove the lid, open the six canisters, and pour each nutrient packet into the canister with the corresponding number, then close the canister tabs and replace the lid. You have to be careful when you do this, or else powder will wind up everywhere.
Next, you have to insert the flavor pouches into the machine, which is the most difficult part of the process. The Core Pack includes two flavor pouches: Citrus Kick and In Bloom.
Basically, you insert a plastic pouch holder on top of the flavor pouch, turn a locking ring on the pouch holder to secure it, then remove the pouch cap and install the pouch in the machine.
It was a struggle just to get the pouch holder secured, then inserting the pouch into the machine was an even bigger challenge. I tried several times and got sticky liquid all over the countertop, the machine, and my hands. I gave up on that pouch, moving on to the other one and finally getting things just right.
Cleaning up after setting up the Mixfit
As a side note, after seeing and smelling the contents of the flavor pouches (which, to be quite honest, smells sickly sweet), I became a little dubious of their health benefits. To my relief, a Mixfit spokerson assured me they are sweetened with Stevia, not actual sugar.
Next, you place the included cup on the mixer, making sure to align it with the grooves on the machine. When successfully installed, the light on the machine will turn white. The machine itself looks cool, especially with the lights. But in my opinion, the flavor pouch sticking out of it detracts from the design.
Once this is all done, you need to install the Mixfit mobile app (available for Android and iOS) and follow the instructions to set up your profile and start mixing up your drinks. The first time you open the app, it asks for permission to send you notifications and use Bluetooth. You can then create a new account, or sign in if you already have one. Note that you must be 16 years or older to create a Mixfit account, and you need an account to dispense drinks.
After signing in, you need to answer a few questions about yourself so the app can create your personalized drink profile. It asks you to specify your gender (there are options for female and male), date of birth, height (in metric or imperial units), weight, physical activity level (sedentary, 1 to 3 times per week, 3 to 5 times per week, 6 to 7 times per week, or active daily), whether you avoid any food groups (dairy, wheat or gluten, eggs, nuts, fish, fruit, vegetables, or red meat), and whether you have any dietary preferences (ketogenic, Paleo, vegetarian, vegan, LowFODMAP, gluten free, or weight loss).
It then asks a few additional questions about your body, goals, and lifestyle, including your waist circumference, the average number of alcoholic beverages you consume every night (none, 1 to 2, 3 to 5, or more than 5), whether you smoke, your daily stress level (none, low, moderate, high, or very high), how much sun exposure you get (none, less than 20 minutes a day, or 20 minutes or more per day), how many hours of sleep you average each night (less than 4 hours, 4 to 6 hours, 6 to 8 hours, or more than 8 hours), your energy level (none, low, moderate, high, or very high), and your level of mental alertness (none, low, moderate, high, or very high).
Next, the app explains that Mixfit’s algorithm is designed to boost the following body capabilities: immunity, vitality, sports, focus, weight, beauty, calm, stamina, and aging. You have the option to select up to three you would like to focus on. The app then asks for permission to access your location to analyze your air quality.
It takes your answers to all of these questions, plus the food you log and activity information from connected wearables, into account when blending up your personalized drinks.
Mixing Up Nutrition
It should be noted that you can’t use the machine to blend a drink without connecting it to the app. I also found that you need to keep the app open the entire time it’s making a drink, or the Mixfit will disconnect, you’ll get an error message, and it won’t complete the job. From start to finish, it takes almost two full minutes to get your drink, so it basically hijacks your phone that entire time.
You also need to use the included cup when making Mixfit drinks, and line it up just so on the machine, or it won’t work. The cup has a little mixer inside that spins to blend everything together. You need to be careful, because if you need to move the machine, or even accidentally nudge it, some of the powder will fall out of the chambers.
When you’re ready to make a drink, open the Mixfit app and press the button at the bottom labeled Make a Drink. The app will then search for your Mixfit machine; when it finds your device, press Confirm. Before dispensing your drink, it brings up a Supplement Facts table showing the vitamin, mineral, and protein breakdown of what it’s about to dispense. Press the button labeled Make a Drink, and the ingredients will start flowing into the cup as the mixer spins. A progress bar in the app indicates how much longer it will take to finish your drink. When it’s ready, the app will let you know.
The Mixfit drinks taste fine. The In Bloom flavor pouch makes the drinks pink and gives them a mildly sweet taste. It’s not something I would ever crave, but it’s not bad. The drinks are pretty small (about 8 ounces), so it doesn’t take me long to get them down. I recommend gulping them down as quickly as possible, because if you the drinks sit for any period of time, the powder will start settling at the bottom, making things gritty. The cup comes with a lid you can screw on, so you can take your drink on the go, but I don’t recommend doing this.
I’ve been using the Mixfit for about three weeks now. Instead of my daily multivitamin, I have a Mixfit drink in the morning. I still take my weekly B-12 supplement just to be safe. I don’t physically feel any better or worse than usual. It’s hard to say whether the drinks are helping me, but I certainly don’t think they’re hurting.
Less than two weeks into testing the Mixfit, the app told me the powder in one of the canisters was running low, and wouldn’t let me make a drink until I refilled it. When I checked, I was surprised to see that there was still a decent amount of power in the canister, but I went ahead and filled it to the top anyway. After refilling a canister, you have to go into the app’s settings, navigate to Personal Center > Mixfit Device, click your device, then press the reset button next to the appropriate canister for it to start dispensing drinks again.
The Mixfit app connects with several major app-based health platforms, including Apple Health, Google Health, Fitbit, and Strava to take your daily activities into account when creating personalized drinks. In testing, I was able to successfully connect my Apple Health and Fitbit accounts, but when I tried to connect my Google account, I got a message saying Google hasn’t verified the app, and it wouldn’t work.
With its image recognition and meal saving features, Mixfit tries to take the friction out of food logging, but the process is still tedious. There’s no barcode scanner, and the platform doesn’t integrate with any other food tracking apps like MyFitnessPal or Noom.
When logging the food you eat in the app, you can take a photo of each ingredient or your full meal, and the app will offer suggestions of what it might be. It successfully identified things like grapes, mango slices, jarred tomato sauce, canned beans, and sandwiches in testing. You can also search for ingredients by typing them in, and save your favorite meals to easily log in the future.
Should You Ditch Your Multivitamin?
The idea behind the Mixfit V2 is innovative, no doubt. Its algorithm takes into account factors such as your age, gender, and weight, as well as meals you manually log, activities you track, and even local air quality to create a drink that gives you what you need for the day. But the machine is messy to use and requires frequent maintenance, logging your food in the app takes a good deal of time and patience, and at $180 for the machine plus $49 per month for the nutrient packs, it’s expensive. If you don’t mind paying a premium for personalized nutrition, and you’re willing to put in the time and effort to log your meals and frequently refill the machine’s vitamin and mineral canisters, the Mixfit might be a good fit for you. But a multivitamin is a much simpler and more affordable alternative for everyone else.
