Chewing is not only to break food down into smaller pieces, but also mixes the food with saliva, which contains different enzymes (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amylase), which are actually quite important for digesting starch and fat. When consuming food only by drinking (Huel), the mouth has a lot less time to produce saliva.
What do you think about that, I think this might be one of the things causing heartburn or gases? Would it help/be possible/make sense to add theses enzymes to Huel to compensate the missing saliva and make it easier to digest?
I’ve also been worried about the no chewing question. The ‘lents’ products have only been around for a couple of years and nobody knows wheher the body suffers from not chewing. I get around it by eating apples and also eating home made natural yoghurt. Both seem a healthy choice for adressing the unknown aspects of eating ‘lents’. I really hope there’s not a bigger issue that’s not come to light yet. I worry about the ‘lents’ that contain maltodextrin and whether we have a growing number of ‘lents’ users developing diabetes. Be careful, is my advice.
Yes, this has always concerned me. I sometimes try and ‘chew’ my Huel around a bit before swallowing (helps if it’s thicker). Another reason I’m looking forward ot the Huel bars.
A note from @JamesCollier on this one, possibly from our FAQs:
"Salivary amylase breaks down the polysaccharide starch into the disaccharide maltose.
However, with liquid diets, this has already been done for you and salivary amylase has very little effect on total starch digestion - it merely kick starts carb digestion as, in the stomach, it itself is broken down (remember, enzymes are proteins). It’s sister enzyme pancreatic amylase which acts in the intestines has a more pronounced effect where even previously solid food is liquid chyme."
So the amylase is only important in the mouth to make it stomach ready.
