Rootana vs Purition

By Matt Smith

Published: April 9, 2025

Through the looking glass, it could be easy to confuse these two powerhouses in the world of meal replacement shakes. It’s fair to say they’re more similar than they are different with them both being brands with a clear emphasis on personal health and sustainable, climate-conscious business practices. Despite these similarities, there are many ways that these too differ, which begs the question: Which one should I buy?

Well, by exploring what makes each of these amazing meal replacement shakes unique, we’re hoping to answer that very question in this article.

Rootana

Purition

400 Calorie Serving

Yes

No (188 calories)

Balanced Meal

27 Vitamins & Minerals >20% RI

Stevia-Free

Sucralose-Free

Monk-Fruit Free

Maltodextrin-Free

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Rootana vs Purition Ingredients

What makes a great meal replacement shake? Great ingredients, of course. Good intentions can get you pretty far, but if you want to make a great product that innovates and pushes the entire industry forward, you have to put in the time and research to find the best possible ingredients for the job.

At Rootana, we’ve refined our formula down to just 11 high-quality and natural ingredients that each work not just as a fantastic source of nutrition, flavour or texture, but also to support one another and the formula as a whole to create a meal replacement shake that never compromises on taste, texture, nutrition, and sustainability.

At Purition, they’ve opted to instead focus on providing variety in all things, from the ordering process to nutrition and flavours. This is a good approach, making sure there’s something for everyone, but it can confuse things a bit and it risks choice paralysis. Looking through the vegan flavours, the ingredients list does have a large amount of continuity, but depending on your choice of flavour you could find yourself with a difference as large as a completely different blend of protein, so it’s worth checking how this might differ before confirming your purchase.

Beyond one glaring difference which we’ll get into in the next section, there’s a decent amount of similarity between the Rootana and Purition in this department, with both opting to include ingredients such as Golden Milled Flaxseed, Chia seeds, Pea Protein and Organic Coconut Sugar.

Rootana vs Purition Sweeteners

Here at Rootana, we’ve always been very firm about our mantra of including absolutely nothing artificial, which provided us with some difficult obstacles whilst trying to develop a great-tasting, highly nutritious meal replacement. This is because many ingredients that can provide high nutritional value don’t fit the bill for what you might call a great-tasting shake (There’s a reason why no one includes broccoli in a meal replacement shake).

You can understand then why many companies instead opt to mask these flavours with strong-tasting, extremely sweet artificial sweeteners such as sucralose and Stevia, the latter of which Purition have opted to include in their meal replacement shakes.

Some consider stevia a natural sweetener, as it’s derived from a leaf, but the FDA has only declared stevia in the form of stevioside as a safe alternative to natural sugar [1], a purified form which is about 450 times sweeter than sugar itself [2].

Whether you consider this a form of natural or artificial sweetener in a technical sense, the flavour is unfortunately synthetic regardless, with a similar taste to sucralose, which is 600 times sweeter than natural sugar.

They do opt to include organic coconut sugar, which is the same direction we decided to go with Rootana. This is a great idea, as it provides a satisfying level of sweetness without being overwhelming, but thanks to its low GI score [3] and being packed with nutrients [4], it’s the obvious alternative to cane sugar and its derivatives.

Rootana vs. Purition Calories

This is one of the biggest differences between the two, as we’ve taken two rather different approaches here.

Calories vary between the different flavours, which you might not notice right away as on the main page, each flavour is listed to contain 200 calories. Once you click on “see full nutritional data” however, you see that’s not strictly true, as even on the “typical values” page, it’s listed as 188 calories.

We all know the numbers, but to reiterate it’s recommended that women eat at least 2,000 calories a day, with 2,500 being recommended for men. With that in mind, if you replace an entire meal with a 188-calorie shake, you may experience some difficulties with food cravings, lethargy and mood regulation.

When you’re trying to lose weight, the low-calorie option may seem more desirable, but the fact of the matter is you’ll have one of two outcomes: you’ll either lose weight far too quickly, facing numerous potential health problems as a result, or you’ll give in to the food cravings and hunger you feel, and not lose weight as a result.

Finally let’s talk about value, as these two are similarly priced on the surface, with 14 meals costing £1.93 per meal with Rootana and 12 meals costing £1.67 with Purition. If you wanted to get similar calories per meal, you’d have to double the amount of Purition, bringing its price up to £3.34 per meal.

What About Taste? Variety?

In terms of taste, it’s something we mostly prefer to stay away from commenting on given its subjective nature. With Rootana, we aimed for a balance of flavours, providing a subtle yet nuanced sweetness accompanied by a lovely toasted oats taste. With the use of Stevia, being up to 450 times sweeter than regular sugar, Purition is significantly sweeter.

In terms of variety, there’s no competition. 40 flavours were agreed to be a bit over the top, so Purition modestly stopped at 39. The thing is, although we all enjoy a lot of options, generally speaking, all brands make an important choice – would they rather provide their customers with a properly curated, streamlined experience, or allow people the freedom to make their own choices, even if those choices could be mistakes?

That’s why at Rootana we decided to hire a team of experts to carefully develop what we believe to be a truly amazing meal replacement shake, combining convenience with a complete nutritional profile, whilst being careful not to compromise on flavour or texture. This was a difficult task, especially as we refused to include anything artificial, but we’re very proud of what we’ve created here.

References

1 – https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/aspartame-and-other-sweeteners-food

2 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8600158/

3 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7174220/

4 – https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/coconut-sugar

LEARN MORE ABOUT ROOTANA

The Nutrition You Need. And Nothing You Don't.

Complete Nutrition: Perfect Balance of Macros, Vitamins & Minerals

No Sweeteners: No Stevia, No Sucralose, No Aspartame, No Acesulfame K, No Monk Fruit

No Half Measures: 400 Calories Per Serving

Tastes Like Real Food: Because It Is Real Food

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the nutrition you need. and nothing you don't.

A 400 calorie complete meal made from real food. Oats, pea protein and flaxseed, with all 27 vitamins and minerals. No sweeteners, no maltodextrin, no unwanted extras. It tastes like real food because it is real food.

Complete nutrition

A scientifically balanced macro split: low-GI complex carbs for steady, gradual energy, plant protein for the growth and maintenance of muscle mass, healthy fats and fiber. Plus all 27 essential vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, D, zinc and selenium, which contribute to normal immune function.

No half measures

Many shakes are too low in calories and too high in protein to be a real meal. Rootana's 400 calories fuel you properly, with the macro balance a meal should have.

Zero sweeteners

No stevia, no sucralose, no aspartame, no acesulfame K, no monk fruit. Sweeteners add no nutrition and carry the risks above, so Rootana is naturally flavored with a small amount of coconut sugar instead.

Tastes like real food

With nothing engineered in the recipe, there's no artificial aftertaste, none of the bloat many sweeteners cause, and it's easy to digest. Just a gentle, oaty sweetness.

Shop Real Food Shake

Zero sweeteners

No stevia, no sucralose, no aspartame, no acesulfame K, no monk fruit. Sweeteners add no nutrition and carry the risks above, so Rootana is naturally flavored with a small amount of coconut sugar instead.

Tastes like real food

With nothing engineered in the recipe, there's no artificial aftertaste, none of the bloat many sweeteners cause, and it's easy to digest. Just a gentle, oaty sweetness.