Got my first Huel yesterday, so I decided to try it for tea. The taste wasn’t terrible, I quite enjoyed it, but shortly after I developed a splitting, nauseous headache. I never normally get headaches, but wondered if it was just a coincidence, drank quite a bit of water and went to bed early. This morning, I woke up fine and decided to try again. Same thing happened, had to go back to bed this afternoon with a pounding head. Really reluctant to try it again, has anyone else had a similar experience? As far as I’m aware I’m not allergic to anything, it’s worrying. And I’m pretty annoyed to have spent that much on a product if I can’t consume it.
Hi @rld
Headaches are very difficult to point pin.
Firstly, there are few different types of headaches: Headaches - NHS
The most common is a tension headache:
The exact cause is unclear, but tension headaches have been linked to things such as stress, poor posture, skipping meals and dehydration.
I have two suggestions, firstly make sure you are getting the right amount of calories. Double check you calculations. Secondly, up your fluid intake. These two issues might help the headaches. If not please let me know. Good luck.
Hi
Can you let me know how much Huel you had? Also, what else and approx when did you eat that day?
Hi, thanks for the advice. I’d had muesli for breakfast at around 8, than pasta for lunch about 1.30. I had the 3 scoops of huel at about half 6, when I would normally eat. Drinking about 2 litres of water a day. I’ll keep trying with the huel this weekend and see what happens.
OK, please keep a food diary so we can try to pinpoint something.
Hopefully they will not happen again
Hi.
I am here to respond saying that Huel can absolutely cause headaches.
I have been trying and testing Huel for a month under different circumstances and am now certain that I get an intense headache about 20-30 mins after I consume it. I have eliminated every other possible reason for the headaches, Huel is the only common denominator in all sets of conditions I tested it in (as first/second/third meal, no caffeine all day, sufficient calories and water consumed in addition to Huel, etc.)
I have scoured the forum for similar experiences, and some people report that switching from vanilla to unflavoured gets rid of the headaches. I have tried to request a sample of the unflavoured Huel from the customer support team and was told this is impossible. I am not about to buy a minimum of 2 bags of a product that may still give me headaches and am therefore giving up Huel, after a month of headaches, with nothing but bad experience and wasted money to show for it.
I sincerely hope that someone looks into this issue, as multiple people have reported headaches, only to be told “it must be something else, like your water intake or nutrition”. It’s not. It’s your product. Look into it.
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I can’t speak about the headaches you are experiencing as it isn’t my area, however any unopened pouches you receive can be returned to us for a refund or exchange. Our returns/refund policy and instructions can be found here: https://huel.com/pages/refund-policy.
There such a thing as a sucrolose headache. Look it up.
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I just started trying Huel and have the exact same problem with headaches. I’m not someone that typically gets these, but very soon after consuming Huel, I get a terrible headache. Each time, without fail. I’ve controlled for everything else–good water intake, regular diet for my other meals, etc. It’s most definitely something in Huel. Multiple people have mentioned this symptom and I wish there was more information. I was very excited to be a regular Hueler, but am so surprised that while I never experienced the common GI issues, I got hit with headaches. I’ve read others describe sucralose sensitivity, and others report that their headaches eventually cease, but it’s unfortunate that we can’t get a sample size of the unsweetened version to test.
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I have the same issue.
At first I thought I was ill but I have a head splitting headache and I never get headaches, even after a big night out.
I even ate a full meal yday in case it was a case of not enough calories or because of sugar. My water intake has been good.
Have had to leave work early to lie down.
I did email Huel few days ago to swap a bag to unflavoured as I was finding it too sweet but not had a reply yet.
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I’ve been on Huel for 3 days now, and have also been getting crippling headaches.
I am however sensitive to sweeteners and it was probably silly of me to try the sweetened version but I assumed sucralose would be ok.
Huel made the U/U version sound so unappealing on their website that I ordered one Vanilla, one Berry and one U/U.
I think I’m ok with the U/U but as I’ve had all 3 favours over the last 3 days it’s hard to be sure.
U/U is delicious in my opinion (I like the blandness and simple oaty taste), and can easily be flavoured up by adding freshly brewed coffee or a little honey and fruit or some cacao powder.
I will stick to the U/U only for the next few days and let you know if the headaches go away.
Then I’ll go back to the sweetened versions, keeping everything else in my diet the same, and see if the headaches come back.
I’ll keep you posted!
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I totally agree splitting headache after half hour to an hour. Artificial sweeteners .vanilla, I’m very sensitive to any chemicals at all, as I’ve an asd , I stupidly thought the ingredients would be healthy!
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Ive never had a headache in my life and im 30…touchwood:)…
Huel hasnt caused any side affects for me…only pleasure…i can feel the goodness of it when i down it…i light up:)…my first batch was chocolate mint…which i thought was awesome until i tried vanilla and fell in love:)
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I never did re-post here on this thread (but did update elsewhere on the forum).
I’m totally fine with the sucralose. I get cyclicle headaches anyway, and I think the headaches must have just coincided with me starting on Huel.
I’ve now been consuming Huel 2 or 3 times a day every day for 2.5 months and I’m fine. I sometimes have unflavoured, but more often have mint-choc preblend, or Original (which actually has the highest sucralose content) plus flavour boosts (which have stevia).
I’m fine with all of it and the headaches come and go and are definitely unrelated to whether I have Huel or not, and to whether I have sweetened or unflavoured.
Anyone assuming their headaches are due to sucralose, I would recommend trying the unflavoured (and adding peanut butter or coffee or cacao or whatever to flavour it, if you need to). That way you can rule out sucralose if you’re still getting headaches. (or know it is the sucralose if the headaches stop!)
I’d also say… have you changed anything else in your diet? Starting Huel often coincides with cutting out coffee or sugar or canned drinks or reduces snack foods or unhealthy foods… and withdrawal from any of those can cause headaches, so its worth checking whether that applies.
Can’t say much about the headaches, as I always have those.
But regarding what is said above, a drastic change in other parts of your diet can be of great influence.
For the same reason, despite having a better rest and diet, my energy level greatly fluctuates.
Most likely, this is due to an immense difference in the amount of sugar I get everyday. Here I actually
mean sugar and not sweeteners of any kinds. The same might go for headaches.
With brains basically being responsible for any (un)conscious thing that happens with your body, theoretically
speaking, anything could cause headaches. Dehydration, lack/overabundance of sugar, too much or not
enough rest, physical/emotional/psychological stress, unbalanced diet, lack of structure in daily life, etc.
It could really be pretty much anything, so if one would change a diet (completely) it is about more than
only going for Huel. It also means less or none of other things.
On top of that, not everyone’s body does adjust to (great) changes as easily as others. I jumped in at near
100% Huel at once, but after a week I feel back to old but more fit because of the nutrition. There are others
who either jump in to deep like me or slowly step-by-step and take up to a few weeks or even months.
When it comes to headaches, I know it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint the cause, mainly because of the
many potential causes. Yes, I have seen the hospital and different specialists on this through the years.
It is easy to point a finger, but look at the entire situation and carefully go over every detail. It might be Huel,
sucralose, other ingredients, might also be something else one chose to do(n’t) around the same time.
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Hi,
Received my order of Huel yesterday and have been taking it since. Followed the instructions on the pack 3 scoops with 400ml water, which is a great consistency for me. I found that after my second huel both yesterday and today, I get this strange tension headache. I drink 8 sometimes 10 glasses of water a day, but for some reason the headache just appears and stays, I’m not allergic to any of the ingredients so unsure what it night be. I have the Vanilla and Berry flavours.
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Could be a reaction to having less salt.
Or less sugar or caffeine…
I’m thankful not to get headaches at all these days.
I used to get headaches at first as well, I am sure I spoke about it on here at sometime. I think it’s just our bodies adjusting to Huel it can effect people in different ways ( plenty of farters round here lol ) I tried adding a bit of salt at one stage but don’t know if it made a difference to be honest. I don’t get headaches now though. Your drinking plenty of water so that’s good, maybe stick to the 1 Huel a day for a couple of weeks and see how it goes. And if all is good try two a day then.