Wow, glad there is a bit of chatter on this. I have been having the soar throat thing ever since I started Huel, and just assumed it was a normal side effect, after talking to my buddy who is also doing Huel, he said he never had such a reaction. I have been doing Huel Black since the beginning, and will probably try Reg Huel for my next order. Just glad I am not alone with this issue.
I had to stop using Huel a few months ago because, after about 3 months of use, I developed the same reaction everyone describes above.
I recently ordered and tried Huel Daily Greens…assuming it would not contain whatever was in Huel Black that I had before that caused my issue. I was wrong, immediately had a gummy soar throat.
I just had a flaxseed IgE test that came back negative.
In Daily Greens I do not see sucralose as part of the ingredients, there is Tapioca Starch. Curious if anyone has tracked down the cause of their irritation.
Tapioca can also trigger OAS as can other Greens ingredients - such as Apple (very common reaction), Lemon, Coconut (much less common) etc. so definitely a process of elimination.
Do the symptoms appear with Black Edition only or also the Standard one?
And where exactly do you experience this irritation? Already in your mouth, proximal or also distal esophagus?
What about foods with a texture similar to Huel (like watery porridge)?
Do you also have to cough as a result - in this case there may be some form of micro-aspiration.
The act of swallowing can be compromised by various disorders like temporomandibular joint dysfunction.
If you have some isolated ingredient to Huel like for example flaxseed or a vegan protein shake (many of those contain pea protein), or oats in the case of Standard Edition, do you also experience those symptoms?
By the way: IgE tests per se cannot rule out an allergy with absolute confidence.
I have found that drinking it in the evenings makes it worse for me. I have actually gotten sick if I drink it too late (right before bed). Starts as a sore throat, then moves into my sinuses. To be fair, eating right before bed isn’t a great idea for your health for all sorts of reasons. I have similar symptoms if I drink it during the day, but they tend to resolve by the evening, so I tend to be able to maintain good health overall. I love my huel, and have found a way to make it work, but it would definitely be great if it didn’t have these side effects.
Incidentally, I found I had a similar experience when drinking this protein powder (mixed with water) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0177EV7E4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. It was a particularly grainy protein powder that didn’t dissolve in water well, so I wonder if that’s a similarity.
One of the problems with OAS allergies is that people may not either realise they have them or had them before - as the foods that trigger them don’t do this when they are cooked – so when they start having foods with these triggers that are not heated – like Huel or protein powders, they can start having a reaction.
You could definitely get a food allergy test done to see if this is the case but there’s not much else to be done, as OAS symptoms often pass much faster than taking antihistamine medication would clear them up anyway.
(in the past, the finger of suspicion for the OAS trigger in Huel was pointed at Flaxseeds, I noticed on the other product you mentioned it also contains sunflower seeds, which are also another OAS potential trigger ingredient)
I had never heard of OAS allergy before this thread, I do have occasional problems with apples too. Thanks everyone!
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