is the balance between carbs, pros and fat right? I think the ingredients are ok, but to make 2000 kcal (500 grams) it has only 185 gr carbs, 145 gr pros and 65 gr fat. For me it’s way too much protein and fat, and i need much more carbs, i don’t want to lose weight. But i absolutely want to “eat” only Huel in my day, what should i do? Does anyone know a similar product that is more like 50% carbs, 30% pros and 20% fat?
Hi @sil,
Please look into The Huel Powder Formula Explained and also Guide to Protein Quality, Digestion and Absorption – Huel . If you think carbs are on the low side remember that our body as the ability to create them Gluconeogenesis: How The Body Makes Glucose | H.V.M.N. Blog .
Even so neither of the Huel powders are considered Keto, regarding low carb diets values.
Regards.
Hey Silvia, welcome to the forum and great first question.
As Paulo has said, we’ve got some great articles to explain why the macro split in Huel is the way it is.
Why do you think Huel has too much fat/protein and not enough carbs? Is there anything you’ve read that you could point me towards?
the body needs carbs as the main source of energy, not fat. Of course fat is important, but too much is unhealthy. And also too many proteins are not good. I am a girl and weight 40 kg, so 150 grams of proteins per day is REALLY excessive. I do a lot of resistance sport, so i need more carbs, at least 300 grams, and about 40-50 grams of fats.
I think Huel Powder is not for me 
i’d really like to use Huel as my main source of energy, but i fear it can be detrimental.
I’m pretty sure there are people out there who are perfectly healthy and don’t consume any carbs at all.
Weighing 40kg I’m guessing your height is between 4.5 and 5ft? Huel’s formula targets the average range of people and but there will always be people who fall outside of that range unfortunately.
You could try half or two thirds of a shake and top up with oats or another carb source? @Dan_Huel can comment better, but being 40kg and under 5ft (if you are) you likely only need 50-75% of the NRV values of vitamins and minerals so not consuming 2000kcal of pure Huel might not be an issue for you.
Based on what you said it sounds like:
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You likely do not need to consume 2000kcal, therefore the amounts of protein and fat you will be consuming will be lower.
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You’re looking for specific requirements related to your physical activity. Huel is based on average requirements, but I will say it absolutely can be used for resistance sport as we state here.
I also want to reiterate that there is no need to fear that the macro split/amounts used in Huel products are detrimental. If you have any evidence that you think shows this, please send this my way and I can have a look into it for you.
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i do a lot of sport, yes i weight 40 kg because i’m 153 cm, but i need a lot of calories, at least 2500-3000, otherwise i lose weight, i tried it. And i need way more carbs.
Also, why does Huel contain so much SATURATED fat? It’s not healthy, even if it comes from coconut, it’s still saturated.
And why the trans fat? Why does Huel contain it? Where does it come from?
Referencing the NHS website it states that men should not exceed 30g a day of saturated fat and women 20g a day. Huel contains 11g per 2000kcal so basically half of a woman’s allowance. Fat itself has a reference intake (RI) as it’s essential and the total amount of fat per 2000kcal is 91% of the RI.
Trans fat is less than 0.5g per 500g of Huel so is less than 0.001%. And if you look it says <0.5g for both 100g and 2000kcal (500g) which would suggest the amount is so tiny the method used to measure it was unable to detect the exact amount. Trans fat can occur naturally in some ingredients but I can’t tell you which one it’s from in Huel but at the amounts present it doesn’t matter. American labelling requirements state that if the amount of trans fat is 0.5g or less you can label it as 0g on the product.
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Thanks for explaining Silvia. If you want to add more carbs to your Huel/diet I’d recommend oats or maltodextrin.
I’m going to echo @Coup’s points, I don’t see it that way. The amount of trans fats are minimal from the main ingredients, just like many other food products.
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a dietician i spoke with made me notice how 100 grams of Huel contain some minerals in very high quantities (for ex iron, vitamin D, K, phosphorus, molybdenum, manganese, zinc, calcium, copper, potassium, folate… and a lot of others), so consuming 500 grams per day may be really DANGEROUS. Even consuming only 200 grams may lead to intoxication from some micronutrients.
I am soo desperate, how can i do? HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT A N"NUTRICIONALLY AND BALANCED COMPLETE FOOD" CONTAIN MINERALS IN THOSE ABSURD QUANTITIES???
It’s dangerous, you can’t consume 500 grams of it. Could you please exolain me? 
I feel way more energetic burning fat instead of carbs to be honest and letting my glycogen and insulin levels drop by eating during a 6-8 hour window.
For intense exercise though carbs can be useful although the latest nutrition & hormone science may suggest we could perform better in ketosis as opposed to carbs…
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“All the vitamins and minerals in Huel are also within safe upper limits.”
Another source, EFSA based:
Instead of shouting on the forum everytime you want some information, why don’t you read all of the articles and guides on the Huel website which explain why they have included more of some vitamins and minerals than the EU NRV’s.
I’ll give you one example though. The EU NRV for vitamin D is 5µg. The NHS in the UK recommends 10µg. Many supplements have 25µg or even more as there is evidence that 5 or 10µg is not enough and the EU NRV hasn’t kept up with the latest research. I’ve been taking a 25µg vitamin D supplement everyday for years whilst getting 50% of my calories from Huel and I’ve not turned into a pumpkin yet. I pay for a private blood test on my vitamin D level every now and then and it’s in the optimal range despite getting maybe 7-8 times the amount stated in the EU NRV every day.
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I’ve just seen you’ve dug up 5 threads from years ago posting this exact same post despite the fact people are engaging with you in this one.
Sod this. Not wasting my time on this anymore.
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Your alarmist and apocryphal spamming of aged threads notwithstanding, you are also discounting the fact that unlike OTC supplement pills (which for the most part are unregulated), packaged and branded foods imported and sold in countries are subject to strict testing and compliance with that countries regulatory bodies.
In the US for example – the FDA has jurisdiction over domestic and imported foods that are marketed in interstate commerce. The FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) seeks to ensure that these foods are safe, sanitary, nutritious, wholesome, honestly and adequately labelled.
In Europe, equivalent bodies such as EFSA and the FSA in the UK, perform similar functions both independently and in cooperation with the FDA, sharing data and findings even if they set different limits and regulations.
If these packaged products do not comply with the safety standards they are simply not permitted to be imported and sold there.
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I didn’t mean to spam, the fact is that I am sincerely worried. I just need some opinions, someone who explains me what I don’t understand, I have no bad intentions. Furthermore I really desire to “eat” Huel, I think it may be s revolution in my life, but I need to be sure what I am going to do is secure and safe for health. Just that.
With respect, Sil, you seem to be the latest in a very long line of newly-registered, “new users of Huel with huge concerns about its safely/health benefits/some other obscure problem” who just seem to want to spread nonsense and cast unfounded aspersions about Huel.
This smells strongly of astroturfing - the process where a coordinated group of people with a usually-underhand agenda try to sway public opinion by pretending to be independent individuals with a common set of concerns - and I can’t help thinking the Huel forums are being used to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt against the Huel brand… 
Or maybe I’m just paranoid? 
/Al
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Thank you everyone for flagging these as spam. I have silenced @sil pending their acknowledgement of my email and removed all reposts other than this thread.
I find this extremely hard to believe. However I will ask one of the nutrition to team to answer your question of course because I think it’s a really interesting one. Although we have definitely answered it before and have many articles which address the choices in vitamins and minerals in Huel.
In the meantime, fun fact about one of the vitamins and minerals you mentioned. Manganese sits at 325% of your Reference Intake per 2000kcal. But we don’t add any at all. It is all naturally occurring in the oats 
so just like that bowl of porridge is high in oats, it will also be similarly high in manganese.
From this article
Manganese in Huel
There is a high level of manganese in Huel, and it’s all naturally occurring mainly from the oats (which are very manganese-rich) and flaxseed. 2,000kcal of Huel Powder provides around 9mg of manganese. Huel Hot & Savoury contains around 0.45mg per serving, a bottle of Huel Ready-to-drink contains 0.5mg of manganese and a Huel Bar provides 0.3mg.
It has been shown that plant-based diets, such as the Ornish diet, can provide on average 11.5mg of manganese per day. This is above the upper limit of 11mg/day set by the US, based purely on the highest levels (10.9mg/day) presented in studies[1]. The EU has no upper limit due to insufficient evidence[2]. Yet there is a distinct lack of adverse effects reported as a result of higher levels of consumption[10, 12].
Therefore, there is no need to be concerned with the high levels of manganese in Huel.
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If it was dangerous, how am I still alive? I’ve eaten only Huel for probably over 6 years now.
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I’ll tackle each of the nutrients you’ve pulled out one-by-one Silvia. However, this will be the last time I’m going to respond if you continue to pull up issues without providing evidence, or at least, reading the articles we are sending to you. If you want to find more about where the vitamins and minerals in Huel products come from, you can do so here.
Iron - The RDA for iron is based on iron from mixed sources. The iron in Huel is plant-based and has a lower bioavailability plus there are antinutrients which decreases the absorption of iron. The iron in Huel is all from the main ingredients and is fine. You can find out more here.
Vitamin D - It’s well established that having higher levels of vitamin D is not an issue, and may be beneficial. This article covers these points well. As @Coup said the label value is actual half of what is recommended.
Vitamin K - There is no daily upper intake for vitamin K, so why this is on the list is beyond me. The NHS says “There’s not enough evidence to know what the effects might be of taking high doses of vitamin K supplements each day.” and “Taking 1mg [1000µg] or less of vitamin K supplements a day is unlikely to cause any harm.” There is ~180µg in 2000kcal of Huel.
Phosphorus - like iron. 100% of the phosphorus comes from the main ingredients. The UK sets no daily upper intake level and in the US it’s 4000mg. There is ~1800mg in 2000kcal of Huel.
Molybdenum - 100% comes from the main ingredients. The UK sets a daily upper intake of 600µg and the US 2000µg. 2000kcal of Huel powder contains 170µg.
Manganese - Again, 100% is coming from the main ingredients. We have an article that Tim has already linked to that covers the upper intake for molybdenum really well and I’ll pick out a key quote “There has never been a reported case of anyone consuming too much manganese from food, and there is no evidence that the consumption of a manganese-rich plant-based diet, as in the case of Huel Powder, results in manganese toxicity”
Zinc - 100% comes from the main ingredients (can you see a pattern here?). There are antinutrients in that decreases the absorption of antinutrients so a higher amount is required, we explain this in more detail here.
Calcium - The US Daily Value is 1300mg of calcium, which is higher than the UK intake and has good evidence behind it. This is why there is 1300mg in 2000kcal in Huel.
Copper - 100% comes from the main ingredients. Again, government upper intake levels are far above the amounts in Huel products which is just 0.1mg above the daily intake value. Please note these values are guidelines and no one is hitting them exactly everyday and nor would you need to.
Potassium - Confusingly this is a difference between labelling guidelines and actual guidelines. The NHS recommends 3500mg a day, which is how much 2000kcal of Huel provides. I find it hard to believe a dietitian found this amount too high.
Folate - Once again, not an issue. We have an article on folate that covers this. “No adverse effects have been associated with the consumption of large amounts of folate from food, there have been concerns regarding very high intakes of supplementary folic acid. Both the EU and the US have provided a tolerable upper limit recommendation of 1,000μg per day, a level based on intakes from supplementation and fortification. Naturally occurring folate from foods has no tolerable upper limit”. The majority of the folate in Huel is naturally occurring and the total amount per 2000kcal of Huel is 400µg.
Right, I’m off to get a Huel bar and have a lie down.
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