I bought the vanilla-flavoured Huel unfortunately without paying mind to the inclusion of sweetener;
I’ve usually had adverse effects with sweetener, though I’m not sure if I’ve consumed Sucralose before.
Couple issues (I’m on my second day of Huel):
I’m getting shaky/weak due to the sweetener! It’s the same kind of shakiness and weakness I’d get from a diet coke or pepsi max. Huel advertises itself as having low sugar but the extremely prominent sweetener should definitely be addressed - I can’t be the only one having adverse effects (and I’ve seen people complaining about migraines, which a quick look through Wikipedia will tell you have a connection with Sucralose.)
I’m really hoping these effects subside because I’ve got almost two bags of the stuff to get through; I’m a broke student and can’t waste this, so here’s hoping the effects aren’t unbearable. DEFINITELY getting unsweetened Huel next time.
Secondly: the sweetness is SO strong.
Drinking Huel feels like I’m drinking a McDonalds milkshake with an added six teaspoons of sugar. Does anyone else feel like the flavour is completely over the top? Is there any way to mitigate the sweetness?
Sweetness is an exceptionally difficult thing to get right. Personally I found the vanilla flavour not sweet enough (though I am used to sweet things), so it’s obvious how difficult it can be to make something right for everyone.
Flavour and sweetness would be dealt with, at least partially, by using more water to dilute it, or adding some unflavoured protein powder.
I’ve been using 800ml of water per three scoops to dilute the sweetness. I suppose I should dry drinking it slower as well. Argh. I sympathise with the creators of Huel and I’m glad that they have rolled out the unsweetened version - just kicking myself so hard for not getting that version in the first place.
Well an alternative due to the long shelf life then would be to wait until you can afford to order another bag, purchase the unflavoured version and then mix your shakes as a 50/50 mix of vanilla to unflavoured - quite a few people do that.
So sorry to hear you’ve not been enjoying your Huel so much. Can I ask, how you can be so sure your shakes and lethargy is from Huel and specifically the sucralose? You mentioned you have never consumed sucralose before, so I was just curious.
As you’ve seen, we addressed the use of sucralose by creating an Unflavoured and Unsweetened version, due to popular demand, so that those who weren’t too keen on the use of sucralose could get involved with Huel to!
Initially Huel Vanilla was much sweeter (!), it has been significantly reduced in sweetness since. To reduce the sweetness you could chill your Huel (ice or fridge), add some coffee or cacao would be an awesome addition too!
Hope you manage to find out what works best for you!
There has been a lot of research into sucralose, and there seems to be no indications of any significant negative effects from consuming it. Your problem is presumably caused by something else.
Is it possible you just aren’t eating enough and are simply hypoglycemic?
I usually add more sucralose as I find it’s not sweet enough for me.
I’ve been diluting Huel more, and it’s definitely mitigated the sweetness.
Yesterday I was under very stressful university conditions and this probably added to the negative effects. It may have been that the sensation of sweetness, given that I don’t eat a lot of sweet things as it is, created a placebo effect - it’s a possibility, anyway.
Your comments were all helpful, I’m enjoying Huel more already and I spoke too quickly and rashly.
Still gonna get unsweetened next time though hahahah
I think we have a case of confirmation bias here. You are a student so you are probably getting lots of new ideas in your head and there is certainly a prominent negative bias towards sweeteners but you best bet is to go to the nhs website and have a look at what they say. “When consumed, most of the sucralose is not absorbed by the body and is eliminated through excretion. Between 8% and 20% enters the blood and is removed through urine, essentially unchanged” so your body isn’t even absorbing it. They go on to say that acceptable levels are 15mg/kg body weight. It does say it could trigger a migraine so if you get those then reduce or stop having huel. Personally I wouldn’t buy 2 bags of a product I’d never tasted especially when a sample is available for £4. Personally I would bite the bullet and go 100% huel for a couple of days to get rid of the stuff if I didn’t want it. That’s what I plan on doing with my xmas pudding huel.
Yeah I TOTALLY freaked out when I made this thread, largely because it’s been the sweetest thing I’ve tasted in a while and the slight shakes I was getting really scared me.
I’ve adjusted very well since making this thread, I actually properly regret making it and would delete it if I knew how to! I don’t wanna be creating negative PR for a product that I’ve really grown to enjoy - but, I kinda did, and yknow. Sorry about that, Huel HQ.
No negative effects thus far, quite the opposite, I feel fantastic and have saved a lot of money. Cheers.