Hello Huelers,
I’m hoping you can help. I know that this similar question has come up before but I’m hoping to get an answer that’s specific to my child please. If anybody who is a qualified and active nutritionist can give an answer then I would really appreciate it.
My son is 2 years and 8 months old, with no allergies
~4 days per week he has a varied and unrestricted diet given to him by his mother
~3 days per week he has a varied and restricted diet given to him by me, his father. I don’t give him meat or fish and I rarely give him any animal products
I tend to cook 2 of his 3 meals fresh. 1 is always porridge with fruit, soy milk and seeds. The other is usually some sort of vegetable and bean stew, usually with seeds and usually with brown rice or some kind of gluten free pasta
Normally I give him bits of Huel throughout the day instead of a third meal. Usually this is half a huel bar (chocolate) and 1 scoop (approx. 150cals) of powder. The powder I use is 3 parts unsweetened/unflavoured and 1 part Vanilla
I began giving him Huel around 6-8 months ago. Slightly less at first and then at these levels since.
His mother is concerned that he potentially shouldn’t be having Huel products and she’s going to consult his doctor (GP for those of us in the UK). Whilst his doctor is great, I’d be surprised if this is her area of expertise so it wouldn’t hurt to get an opinion here.
What I’m looking to know:
Is this the amount of Huel I give to my son safe?
Could it be safe with adjustments? i.e cutting down and/or cutting out the bars or powder entirely
If not, at what age will it be safe, assuming the formulas stay roughly the same?
If it’s not fully safe, now or later, what are the actual medical risks as you see them?
If anybody could answer these questions for version 3.0 of the powder and version 3.1 of the bars then that would be awesome as I see both are about to change
Huel isn’t designed for kids under 5. Kids have different nutritional requirements to adults, but having said that I don’t believe what you are doing would have a detrimental effect…many children eat a lot worse at that age. Make sure he cleans his teeth properly though.
Thanks Hunzas. I can see that and see why the team would recommend referring to a doctor generally. I’m curious as to whether this small amount - about a quarter of his food intake three times per week - might be okay without putting his health at risk.
Thanks Bee, I was hoping to get a reply from James but I wasn’t sure if he’d still be active on the forums day-to-day. It must be a big company and community now!
A GP would be very unlikely to know much about Huel and therefore their opinion is unlikely to hold much value.
I think that the concern regarding young children is 1) the high fibre content and 2) the vitamin levels are optimised for adults not children.
You are giving really quite a small percentage however, in regards to his overall diet.
Personally I don’t think it would be harmful, within the context of his entire dietary intake.
You may not get the go ahead from a professional however, as it’s not designed for young children and so no-one may be willing to say - yep, it’s ok.
Maybe use the nutritional info of the products you are using and calculate the exact amounts of every vitamin and mineral you are giving him from Huel, and compare that to a children’s multivitamin or take that list of vitamin amounts to a GP and ask if there are any levels there that would be harmful.
As for fibre - if he’s not getting stomach cramps or constipation or diahharea then he’s absolutely fine. Make sure he has plenty water.
It’s good to be cautious but people don’t approach other foods with as much concern or scrutiny and happily feed 2yr olds McDonald’s, chocolate, crisps, takeaways etc etc all of which have far too much sugar and salt and msg to name just a few harmful ingredients for a toddler!
Personally I think it’s fine. But always good to get a professional opinion
To add I think occasional sips of Huel for a 2 year old would be fine, I don’t know if a scoop and half a bar each day would be too much protein for a toddlers, seems like you would be going close to 20g protein with just that alone without his other meals during the day…19g is the daily recommended intake for 4-6 year olds.
Yeah I mean nobody wants to give advice that might somehow hurt someone else’s child for some unknown reason, me included. But Huel isn’t anything scary, it’s basically just fancy porridge (sorry Huel marketing team). People give their kids all kinds of shite to eat, and I’m sure my brother used to eat worms and soil and he turned out fine haha. As long as you’re looking after your son and watching his health carefully (sounds like you are), he will be fine I’m sure
Kids over 4 years can basically eat the diet of an adult, obviously with different nutritional requirements. Under 4, different considerations have to be made and it’s also different territory in the food industry, so comms shy away from the area. However, there’s no reason why a small amount of Huel can’t be given to children under 4 years post-weaning as long as it is only a small proportion of the diet. I’m not recommending that anyone does give their post-weaning-under-four-year-old child Huel products, just merely stating that there is nothing in Huel that’s contra-indicated as long as Huel is only a small part of a varied food intake. Let’s be honest, most people are giving their kids chocolate and other crappy snacks at this age!
Thank you everybody, I really appreciate the range of opinions. The gin comment made me chuckle! It’s great to know that there’s a community here to help with specific issues like this.
My son’s mother has spoken to his GP about this now too. Her concern is about higher-than-recommended levels of vitamins having an adverse effect on his still-fragile kidneys in the long term. So we’ll weigh her opinion with yours and take a decision from there.
She’s right to be concerned about certain high vitamin levels, hence my suggestion to calculate the exact amounts he would be getting.
It shouldn’t be too difficult: simply weigh what you give him and use the nutritional info on the packet to calculate the exact amounts.
You can then ask a doctor to comment on these specific vitamin levels - which may be fine. Or you may discover that you need to halve the portion you’re giving him.
It’s worth investigating I reckon
His mother cooks him meat, fish, vegetables, what you call “unrestricted” meals, and meanwhile you’re doing porridge, bean stew, and now wondering if you can give him more porridge (Huel).
Taking the nutritional aspect out of it, if this were my child, no, I wouldn’t be happy with this, as part of learning about food as a young child is being introduced to different flavours, foods and textures.
Also, why is she taking your child to the GP for what’s essentially your problem?
I think it’s interesting to get your insight as you sound like a parent yourself. I don’t need to defend against any of the assumptions you’ve made here as our child is happy and lucky in life. Perhaps I could have completely protected against anyone feeling offended that this is sexist by calling myself parent 1 and her parent 2 or something. I probably would if I was writing it again.
Thanks Christina, great point. That would show that we’re valuing the doctor’s opinion and then giving her the data to help refine what she’s said. I think I’ll do just that.
I’m wondering, what if the GP, having seen the vitamin and mineral content, still says that it’s not suitable for him/her? What will you do then? I might be wrong, but you come of as feeling very strongly about it.
