I want to try Huel, never tried anything like it before. Hence I was doing some investigation online, and came across this:
It talks about Soylent 2.0, not Huel. Still, the article gave me some concerns regarding the micronutrient content of Huel.
For example using a source of vitamin D2 instead vitamin D3 (e.g. statement that “D3 is significantly superior to D2 in human physiology”), source of vitamin K1 vs vitamin K2 (e.g. statement that “K2 has also been shown to reduce cancer risk, and K1 has been shown to be ineffective”), and some of the sources of minerals. I’d like for someone from Huel to address these concerns for me.
Hi
The sources of vitamin D3 are non-vegan; that’s why we use D2 - but we have more in than the basic requirements to compensate. Also, do bear in mind that people who live in moderate to warm climates for 4-5 months of the year and wear a T-shirt outside for some of this time, will obtain more than adequate vitamin D3 through sunlight.
The different versions of vitamin K are both as effective for health. The K2 and cancer studies are more observational in design which have their limitations.
Thank you very much for taking time to reply to my post, I appreciate it.
I do not get sufficient sunlight exposure. I spend all of my time indoors without windows. When I am outside, it is either very early in the morning or late in the evening and I fully cover my body with clothes, and apply high SPF sunblock to my face. This is what got me worried about the vitamin D in Huel.
Are you absolutely sure that the vitamin D2 content of Huel will fully substitute the complete absence of vitamin D3 in the body? I have considered publications such as https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24001747 which claim that vitamin D3 is far superior for the human body compared to vitamin D2. Vitamin D3 is better absorbed and utilized than vitamin D2. If vitamin D3 is at least 300% more effective than vitamin D2, then perhaps the amount of vitamin D2 would need to be increased in Huel.
Would you consider making a version of Huel that is not 100% vegan but is better suited for human consumption?
Alternatively, to my limited knowledge, there are some vegan sources of vitamin D3 from lichen and maybe some mushrooms. I do not know if that would viable for use in Huel though.
Additionally, Huel currently provides 15μg/day of vitamin D. I found some suggestions that it should be increased to 20μg/day. What are your thoughts about that? Source: https://www.dge.de/wissenschaft/referenzwerte/vitamin-d/
I am not a nutritionist and am not trying to attack you or your choices for the product, if you tell me that there is nothing to worry about regarding vitamin D or vitamin K in Huel, I will believe you and give Huel a try.
Hi @rikefrejut - no problem; you raise valid points.
The vitamin D recommended intake has already accounted for varied bioavailibility and, coupled with the fact that we have even more than this amount, there is more than ample vitamin D in Huel.
We plan to keep all Huel products vegan unless we see a need to do otherwise. We have and are looking into vegan sources of D3, but it’s not at all simple.
I will ask my German colleague to help translate that ref for me.
The article basically says that the vitamin D that we get from our food would not be sufficient if at the same time we do not get Vitamin D from endogenous synthesis from sunlight. Thus, without endogenous synthesis we need to bridge this gap by taking vitamin D supplements. The table then states the suggested overall intake of Vitamin D in case we are NOT getting Vitamin D from endogenous synthesis at all. According to the table, newly borns should get 10 micrograms a day, all others 20 micrograms a day.
Interesting, but really an article is only an opinion: one needs to see how one arrives at an opinion.
I remain more than confident that there’s sufficient vitamin D in Huel
Huel journey is amazing. Have been 100% Huel U/U v1.2 for two weeks now, feel much better, lost some mass (mainly water retention I assume), etc. Still have 2 weeks worth of Huel v1.2, and worry a little bit about what happens when I run out, since I have reservations about Huel v2.0 - which I hope will be addressed by the time I run out.
