Hi! I’ve tried googling this but surprisingly not much information is available on the net about this yet.
Basically, I was wondering about how Huel compares to a regular protein shakes. Judging from the macros, it’d be closer to gainers. Here I compared Huel nutritional facts to MHP Up Your Mass that I am using at the moment (ignore gray lines):
As you can see, Huel is actually worse off macros-wise, with more fat and less carbs and protein. I assume that’s not the main goal of Huel. It’s lower in sugar and higher in some vitamin-minerals like Vit C and potassium but lower in a bunch of others like Vit B2 and B3. I assume adding multi-vitamins to MHP would equalize the vitamin-mineral content.
So what is the strongest point of Huel against its competitors? Is it low sugar content (there are however gainers lower in sugars than MHP)? Is it that you don’t have to add multi-vitamins? Is it that Huel is vegan?
All of this is said with a viewpoint that both of these are used a supplement for a meal/snack and not as 100% replacement.
I’m not trying to criticize Huel here, I’m just genuinely interested.
Thanks.
This is extremely important. Fat is more satiating than carbs, and also comes with a host of benefits.
Huel having less protein is actually good as well, as it already has a very high level (some would say too high). Adding more could put a lot of strain on the kidneys after meals.
Thank you for the comment, love a good spreadsheet! More is not always better and in this case your protein shake and Huel are quite different. As @IcyElemental says, Huel is currently higher in protein than Government requirements, this is for a host of reasons (satiety being the main one) but MHP is significantly higher. I imagine the serving size is smaller than Huel because of this.
The fat in Huel is definitely something that will separate us. Huel use medium chain triglycerides that come with a host of qualities that separate it from other fats.
Huel being vegan is important for a number of reasons, not all of them are to everyone, but for many this is essential.
Other points would be that Huel add phytonutrients. These are not ‘essential’ but have been shown to provide significant benefits.
Huel is high in fibre which promotes a healthy gut and also slows the breakdown of carbohydrate, although not in your table, I believe MHP contains 1.7g of fibre per 100g. Not a lot.
There are more benefits to Huel! I think Huel would be perfect to promote healthy weight gain if that is your goal.
Protein sources are another thing that matter. I would hazard a guess that this shake has it’s protein coming entirely from whey. This isn’t necessarily optimal. Just because something goes through the body the fastest doesn’t mean it goes through it the best. Ask any woman .
It’s all about absorption and utilization, and whey shooting through your kidneys like a train doesn’t mean that 46g of protein are going straight to your muscles.
Huels protein sources are what they are because a synergistic blend is almost always preferable for the body than a concentration of anything, as we aren’t adapted to getting pure nutrients because they don’t happen like that in nature.
In comparing Huel to a protein shake it’s a bit like comparing a car and a motorbike: they are two different products. Of course, protein drinks have more protein (well some do, but there’s a whole scandal about incorrect labelling of protein powders read here), because they are not complete nutrition nor do they wish to be.
Huel is complete nutrition so shouldn’t be compared to weight gain formulas either. Huel is not high calorie: it’s designed to be adjusted by the individual to suit their requirments.
I don’t wish to be rude, but this really is a pointless debate
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