See my glucose variation in my blood after eating Joylent and Huel

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@Ric I will now try and explain why I disagree with listing oats and not maltodextrin, etc. Go to their current product page, click “powder” in their top nav.

The first section under the price and product image is titled “Carefully selected ingredients.”

There is list of just four ingredients and there is no mention that there are any more or a link to see the full list, so a user could easily think that it’s the total ingredients. Lets look at what they list:

  • Brown rice protein
  • Oat flour
  • Sunflower
  • Vitamin and minerals

They could look at this three ways, a) this is the complete list (it’s not), b) it their top ingredients (even though you claim oats is their forth largest ingredients, it’s not, below is a list of ingredients as taken from their v1.5

  1. Canola & sunflower oil (canola oil, sunflower oil, maltodextrin, modified starch, mono & diglycerides tricalcium phosphate, mixed tocopherols)
  2. Rice protein
  3. Isomaltulose
  4. Oat flour

So you could easily conclude that oats it’s the forth largest ingredients, but it’s not. This is because the first “ingredient” contains other ingredients. Now cross reference with this page: https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/203708699-Carbohydrates

And will see that oat is only the 4th largest carb. So the actual top ingredients should read like this:

  1. Canola & sunflower oil
  2. Maltodextrin
  3. Rice protein
  4. Isomaltulose
  5. Potato starch
  6. Oat flour

Really canola and sunflower should be split (they are individual ingredients) but because I don’t know the split I will leave them combined. So at best oats is the 6th largest, but it could be the 7th.

c) they list the key ingredients from each of the macros, e.g. proteins, carbs, fat, plus the micros. Which would be fair enough. My issue is that the ingredients their use for the carb source is oat flour is which is actual the forth large source of carbs. as show below:

Maltodextrin 70g
Isomaltulose 47g
Potato starch 41g
Oat flour 24g
Rice Starch 13g
Trehalose 11g
Brown rice protein 7.5g
Algal Oil Powder 2g
Soy Lecithin 1g

Yes this information is on their site but it’s certainly not easy to find, it takes 3 further clicks from the product page to get the info and that is only if you know where to click. Considering lower down the page they have a section titled “Transparent labelling.” I find it strange it takes 3 further click to find the split of carbs.

I’m not disparaging Soylent I just think that on a product page they should list all their ingredients in order, not use their 4th largest carb source to illustrate the carbs in soylent, not list ingredients on their label within other indigents so users can’t understand how large a percent that ingredients is in relation to all the other ingredients.

Also Ric please remember the rules of this forum:

Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree

You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But, remember to criticize ideas, not people. Please avoid:

Name-calling.
Ad hominem attacks.
Responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content.
Knee-jerk contradiction.
Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.

May I remind you of some of their names you have called me petty and amateurish and that I make statements which are unbecoming, unprofessional. Plus termed like I’m taking a potshot, badmouthing, taking a dig at the competitors are not welcomed nor called for.

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42

What is the GI of Huel?

43

You have an issue with how they list their ingredients on their label. The problem is, that label is heavily regulated. That is how the Food and Drug Administration requires food labeling. By law, they can’t alter the order.

44

We don’t have that figure currently.

Considering you have only mentioned the two points above does that you agree with my other points?

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45

As long as we are quoting the community guidelines,

“When you see bad behavior, don’t reply. It encourages the bad behavior by acknowledging it, consumes your energy, and wastes everyone’s time.”

If you truly have an issue with my disagreement, then don’t reply. Please remember the rules of this forum.

(Although you are still free to “Like” every post that counters me. Not exactly how I would want to lead this forum, but definitely your choice.)

You also accused me of name calling. I commented on your actions, I am not judging you as a person. For instance, I never called you petty, or amateurish. I said it seems petty for the CEO of Huel to badmouth other soylent products. I sincerely apologize if you don’t see the difference; I don’t think you are petty. And you are clearly not an amateur.

I can say you are taking a dig at the competitors, though. Can’t I? Are you not criticizing Soylent and Joylent in this thread? Heck, even @Marcus agrees that you are. Our only difference in that regard is that he thinks it is acceptable, whereas I think it is acceptable for others, but unsightly for the CEO.

46

Can you link to the section of the fda rules that state that they must list ingredients in brackets as sub ingredients of other ingredients, rather than as individual ingredients?

All I can see is that ingredients should be listed in order of weight, but I’m not full up to date with fad rules.

47

Totally on board with your vision to get away from maltodextrin. I personally don’t have an issue with it, but since diabetics and many others do, it was a great decision to find other sources. And I’m eager to see how big an improvement that makes with the glucose index. :thumbsup:

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48

I think you know the other points I’m referring to, do you now agree that oats is not the 4th largest ingredients, that oats shouldn’t be used to illustrate carbs, etc, etc.

49

I’m sorry, I wasn’t knowingly ignoring that point. In fact, I thought I was being supportive, since you earlier said we were just going to disagree on the order, and to “leave it there please.” So I thought I was ending on a point of agreement. Apologies that you saw that as avoidance.

No, I don’t agree. Maltodextrin is listed as part of the oil powder. By weight, as you just said, Oat flour is the fourth ingredient, after the oil mix, rice protein, and isomaltulose. So I don’t have an issue with there being a picture of oats on the main page.

I also think it would be unrealistic to expect any company to put a picture of maltodextrin on the main page.

50

I’m not sure if this is what you are looking for,

(14) Each individual fat and/or oil ingredient of a food intended for human consumption shall be declared by its specific common or usual name (e.g., “beef fat”, “cottonseed oil”) in its order of predominance in the food except that blends of fats and/or oils may be designated in their order of predominance in the foods as “___ shortening” or “blend of ___ oils”, the blank to be filled in with the word “vegetable”, “animal”, “marine”, with or without the terms “fat” or “oils”, or combination of these, whichever is applicable if, immediately following the term, the common or usual name of each individual vegetable, animal, or marine fat or oil is given in parentheses, e.g., “vegetable oil shortening (soybean and cottonseed oil)”. For products that are blends of fats and/or oils and for foods in which fats and/or oils constitute the predominant ingredient, i.e., in which the combined weight of all fat and/or oil ingredients equals or exceeds the weight of the most predominant ingredient that is not a fat or oil, the listing of the common or usual names of such fats and/or oils in parentheses shall be in descending order of predominance. In all other foods in which a blend of fats and/or oils is used as an ingredient, the listing of the common or usual names in parentheses need not be in descending order of predominance if the manufacturer, because of the use of varying mixtures, is unable to adhere to a constant pattern of fats and/or oils in the product. If the fat or oil is completely hydrogenated, the name shall include the term hydrogenated, or if partially hydrogenated, the name shall include the term partially hydrogenated. If each fat and/or oil in a blend or the blend is completely hydrogenated, the term “hydrogenated” may precede the term(s) describing the blend, e.g., “hydrogenated vegetable oil (soybean, cottonseed, and palm oils)”, rather than preceding the name of each individual fat and/or oil; if the blend of fats and/or oils is partially hydrogenated, the term “partially hydrogenated” may be used in the same manner. Fat and/or oil ingredients not present in the product may be listed if they may sometimes be used in the product. Such ingredients shall be identified by words indicating that they may not be present, such as “or”, “and/or”, “contains one or more of the following:”, e.g., “vegetable oil shortening (contains one or more of the following: cottonseed oil, palm oil, soybean oil)”. No fat or oil ingredient shall be listed unless actually present if the fats and/or oils constitute the predominant ingredient of the product, as defined in this paragraph (b)(14).

51

Hi…i am still here waiting for replicating the experiment with Soylent.

Remember I cannot buy it because I live in Spain.

This topic was about glucose variation.

:wink:

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52

No I certainly did not say that oats was the forth largest ingredients by weight.

If you do honestly believe that oats is listed there as being the fourth largest ingredients, what is the vitamin blend doing there, etc? The four ingredients highlighted on the product page according to that logic should be:

  1. Canola & sunflower oil (canola oil, sunflower oil, maltodextrin, modified starch, mono & diglycerides tricalcium phosphate, mixed tocopherols)
  2. Rice protein
  3. Isomaltulose
  4. Oat flour

But they are not. So you should have problem with the “canola & sunflower oil” being listed as “sunflower oil” and “Isomaltulose” being left off the list. Do you?

Why is unrealistic to put a picture of maltodextrin? Would you be a similar photo the vitamin blend?

No that section seems to refer to how to handle oils when they are blended, not additional no oils when they are part of a blend.

Sorry @PacoA for going off topic :smile:

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53

Not only Huel! See Bertrand meal powder, here https://bertrand.bio, 100% organic.

54

Great, it doesn’t look like Bertrand has maltodextrin but it does have 31g of cane sugar though which is likely to lead to a sugar spike for diabetics

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55

I didn’t say you made any such claim about oats. You only said, “ingredients should be listed in order of weight.”

Soylent says that oat flour is the fourth largest ingredient by weight (by way of being listed as the fourth ingredient on the nutrition label).

I agree. I said this much earlier in this thread. And, this is the order that the items are listed on the nutrition label. I guess where we disagree is here. You think that even though these items are listed as the top four ingredients on the nutrition label, Soylent should, in addition, also put a picture of this four on the main web page. I think that it is an acceptable marketing practice to not put a picture of isomaltulose on the web page, or packaging. Food packaging often chooses to highlight certain ingredients via pictures. A stroll down any grocery aisle will find tens of products that illustrate their product with ingredients they are stressing. I don’t think this is dishonest. To be honest, I don’t know what isomaltulose looks like. If I did, I probably wouldn’t care to see a picture of it on the packaging.

And also, I don’t think it is “unrealistic” to put a picture of maltodextrin on the website. But I definitely don’t think it is “deceptive” not to.

56

I’ve enjoyed reading this thread (mostly) it is clear that transparency is key to making an informed choice of anything in life and also that there are a lot of people with a far greater level of knowledge than what I currently have

I know that Insulin spikes are mostly seen as bad (mmkay - sorry) and Malto can/will contribute to that

Thanks to @PacoA for starting this thread

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57

Thanks to you for reading it with attention

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58

Interesting, but still just anecdotal data. We need more people do more messurements before we can conlude anything here.

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59

I agree… this happens in my body.

But in the first answer I persons says he is having the same results. A pity he is not sharing the numbers.

BTW, if somebody wants to replicate the experiment, a glucometer is very cheap, even some times is free. The business is made selling the strips. The strips are for one use only. It is like printers…the business is made selling the ink.

So you can find a set of a glucometer+some strips for very low price. This is just what you need…about 10 strips for product you want to try. However, you need some time to learn to use it. You have to obtain a good drop of blood (good size)…and it requires some experience. So 5 strips more to practice could be enough.

60

Sorry folks, the reason I wasn’t posting my blood results was because I don’t know how to make a chart like the original poster. Here are the numbers from one of the competitor products

Start - 6.8
15 min - 13.0
30 min - 14.3
45 min - 15.7
60 min - 14.4
75 min - 12.2
90 min - 7.8
105 min - 6.2

as you can see, it peaks at 45 minutes and takes over 90 minutes to become normal again.

The following is the result when using Huel

Start - 5.4
15 min - 9.2
30 min - 10.8
45 min - 12.2
60 min - 10.4
75 min - 9.8
90 min - 7.4
120 min - 6.4

Clearly, the above shows an improved reaction using Huel. Need to bear in mind that I take medication for diabetes so that will affect the results but it does demonstrate the difference between products using maltodextrin.

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