Is there any update on this issue, where can I find the article?
As I understand from this thread, the only answer to the posed question:
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but you are selling a product that if used as a total meal replacement (as you market it) means ingesting 9-12mg of cyanide per day when the European Food Safety Authority has established the Acute Reference Dose to not exceed approximately 1-2 mg per person, per day. Is this statement true, or false?
is that “you don’t market it as a total meal replacement”, and that is a little bit worrying at least to me.
I’m also interested in this article… I’ve failed to find satisfying scientific evidence for/against eating ground flaxseed. However there are many recommendations out there to avoid consuming it if possible. In these cases it is generally better to be safe than sorry - until there are no longer a discussion made up by opinions but rather evidence and facts to lean against.
An acute ingestion of cyanide will have a dramatic, rapid onset, immediately affecting the heart and causing sudden collapse, a seizure, or coma. Chronic poisoning from ingestion or the environment has a more gradual onset.
I’m not saying Huel has loads of cyanide in it, but if it (or anything else) had enough for it to build up to high enough levels then it could cause some pretty nasty symptoms over time.
Hemp has a completely different nutritional profile to flaxseed. You’d need about 4 times the amount to get a close omega-3 amount. That would throw all the macros off and would mean a complete reformulation and Huel would cease to be Huel. Moreover, hemp has a strong taste, to the flavour would need a complete reformualtion and could need more sweetener. Plus, hemp seeds are not milled so finely = gritty mouthfeel.
We have looked and continue to look at alternative ingredients all the time. But I refuse to worsen Huel’s nutrition due to listening to the pseudoscience minority. The omega-3:6 ratio of Huel is one of the nutritional points I’m particualrly proud of.
The only ‘viable’ alternative from a nutriitonal perspective are chia seeds, but these are very expensive so the price of Huel would go up for zero benefit other than to keep a few people happy.
This flaxseed article needs to come out asap. Apologies - I am a bottle-neck for some projects at the moment.
They’d still whinge James, don’t forget about the phytoestrogens, they’re in chia too, so that would still be a go to complaint… You just can’t please some people. There is no dietary perfection, close as huel is.
On a side note, if you need any information on flax, phytoestrogens and how they ‘simply’ don’t cause an issue for men then PM me, I might be able to offer some knowledge, or dig up some studies I’ve found in the past (although I think I’ve posted most on here anyway), it’s funny I don’t normally get opportunities to talk about hormones outside of the topics niche circle…!
Cyanide leaves the body very quickly and is usually undetectable in the body within a few hours. Because of the following factors: small amount of cyanide that may come from eating flaxseeds, the relatively slow speed of digestion and the rate at which it enters the body, and the body’s ability to remove cyanide quickly - it doesn’t get anywhere near a high enough level to cause harm.
From my personal studies I think the issues with flax seed and cyanide are exacerbated if you wear a tinfoil hat, and dangle your legs off the edge of the flat earth we live on.
Where is that article? /Concerned Swede looking to defend my use of Huel and being knowledgeable in the matter.
Why don’t you conduct a thorough investigation, through an unbiased third party of course
