Firstly, hats off to the Huel team for developing a great product that has quite possibly saved my life. As someone with Aspergers, I’ve always had a restrictive diet. Huel allowed me to continue to do so, while ensuring I consume all necessary nutrients. Thank you!
That’s the good part. The bad part is that my farts are of a magnitude worthy of their own Christopher Nolan movie.
The question I now pose myself is: can I create the conditions in which I can be both in good health, and participate in the process of mate selection?
To sustain myself, I consume 650 grams of Huel v3.1 Berry on a daily basis.
I initially figured the fibres were the issue, but digestive enzymes did not have any effect.
Thus, my current hypothesis is that it’s the artificial sweetener Sucralose which is causing the problems. Supporting this hypothesis is the statement from multiple other customers that switched to Huel Black, which does not contain Sucralose and resolved their fart issue.
However, I’m not excited about the idea of switching to Black. At the amount of Huel I consume, I’d be consuming about 35 grams of sugar a day, which is too much for my liking. I also don’t need that much protein (I practice endurance sports, not weight lifting).
Another option would be to switch to Huel unflavored&unsweetened. However, I do not like the flavour – the thought of consuming 650 grams a day of it does not give me a lot of joy.
I therefore wonder: are there any other options/ideas that I have not considered here that would allow me to resolve this issue?
Furthermore, has Huel considered moving away from sucralose? I would be willing to pay a lot to have access to regular Berry huel without sucralose…
could also try - doing 50/50 with UU? the flavour would be blander but not as unforgiving as UU by itself and would prove/disprove the theory on Sucralose being the root cause if the gas issues reduces in anyway.
Sucralose is a common ingredient in various products. Have you had similar symptoms before using Huel with other foods? Or is it completely new? If the latter is the case, it seems more likely that you have to get used to the high amount of protein and fibre. It seems that many new users have to introduce it gradually to avoid gastrointestinal problems. You will find lots of discussions around that topic in this forum and on for example reddit.
Will try for a couple of days with UU only to confirm whether it’s indeed the sucralose.
If all clear, will then try the mixing strategy and see whether symptoms do not return
If they do, will experiment with 3rd party stevia-based flavours.
@mbs: Have been on 100% huel for quite some years now (and did ease into it at the beginning) so don’t think it’s about getting used to the protein/fibre anymore. I don’t think I have much experience with other sucralose-sweetened products, but do know I that I suffered from gas when consuming Xylitol.
When going through any type of gas/digestive issues consuming Huel, the recommendation is usually to reduce how much you’re consuming and gradually build up, if this is a case of your body adjusting to an increased fiber intake.
Currently not, as we offer Black Edition that doesn’t contain sucralose. However as with all suggestions, I will of course make sure to log this feedback to see if this is something we would consider changing in the future.
Sorry to hear you’ve been having these issues!
If this is something that is concerning you, we would always recommend consulting your GP just to rule out any potential intolerances, as we can only recommend so much from our end.
UPDATE: having consumed unflavoured and unsweetened Huel original for 4 days now, I can report no difference in gaseous emissions. So seems unlikely Sucralose is the culprit!
Next up, I’ll be trying 2 more potential solutions, first independently and then in combination:
taking a high dose of digestive enzymes (alpha-galactosydase)
inceasing the ration of water:huel (I now do 160g of Huel vs 550ml of water, making it quite thick)
It could be the high protein or high fibre content - this can’t be changed, though. Perhaps you have an intolerance against one of the ingredients. Some people seem to be more sensitive than others, for example a good friend, which made him use another brand for his shakes instead (I can’t do any advertisement here, though). This was the only thing that worked for him.
Prebiotics are already included in most products, and all powders, so I don’t think taking such a supplement could change anything. Adding more water won’t change the total amount of powder you have, so I also think it is highly unlikely that it would change anything.
Personally I don’t have such issues all the time, but when I get similar problems I take simethicone. This is not for long term use, though, and should not be taken if you’re on some medication or have some chronic disease.
A food intolerance could also be the culprit; have you already been tested on this?
Anyway, consulting your GP would be the best in my opinion, at least if these problems have occured for a longer time. If it is a normal reaction, if you just have to get used to the diet change, your problem should go away after some time.
Have been using a high dose of Beano digestive enzymes for the past few days (4x400galu per bottle, 4 bottles per day) and the gas issues have been significantly reduced. So seems the fibres were the culprit after all!