V2.2 Huel Powder released

Hi there Huelers,

We’ve been working on a new version of our Huel Powder and are really pleased to announce that as of 3pm today it has gone on sale. You can get yours here.

Although the main ingredients of Huel remain unchanged, we have made a few important updates.

  • We have removed carrageenan as one of the thickeners in Huel - a popular request amongst many of you - and improved the texture of Huel.
  • Retinol acetate as opposed to retinol palmitate to eliminate palm derived products in Huel
  • Using natural D-alpha tocopherol acetate as our additional vitamin E source
  • Increasing the level of B12
  • Increasing the level of vitamin D
  • Changed to calcium citrate as our source of additional calcium

For the full details and references, head to our website.

We hope you are as pleased as us with the changes, I’m sure you’ll let us know your thoughts on v2.2 and for future versions of Huel!

Huel HQ

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Does that mean Huel with have a thinner consistency?

I really really hope not… It’s was just right as is.

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Looks like some great changes, nice work, keep it up.

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The consistency is about the same, just smoother

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which means no more lumps?
AnywayI am really happy to see how transparent are you with your product and how it is improving overtime! Thank you huel team!

Xylitol is no longer listed in the ingredients as carrier, and neither is maltodextrin. Is that intentional?

Lycopene, Lutein and zeaxanthin are no longer listed in ingredients. Is that intentional?

Biotin changed form from D-Biotin to just Biotin. Any comments about this?

Most of the values for micronutrients have changed, such as a large increase in iron content. Any comments about this?

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Nice work! I’m eager for V2.3 where maybe we’ll see some updates based on the upcoming EU NRV’s.

The Huel team’s attention to the details of both nutrition and sourcing are very commendable, and give you a clear differentiation from other major producers of meal replacements. So when’ll y’all start selling in North America? Because there’s some companies this side of the pond that could use a good competitive shake-up.

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Looks great! Are all the ingredients listed though? Can’t see Zeaxanthin but it’s in the nutritional info.

Also, can I ask why you use Vitamin D2? I was always under the impression that is basically useless as it can’t be absorbed unless it’s D3. I don’t mind as I supplement with a D3 product separately but for people that don’t they may be unaware.

Keep up the good work!

Most D3 isn’t vegan and James Collier said he’d need to look into the safety of the form of D3 from lichen before adding it in. It’ll probably come before too long.

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Lycopene and Lutein are listed on the ingredients. We’ve changed the way we’ve laid the ingredients list out so it doesn’t look so daunting. The micronutrient blend is now listed through the asterisk and lycopene and lutein are there. Zeaxthanin is not on the ingredients list (and wasn’t on v2.1 either) as it’s a bi-ingredient of the lutein. It is shown on the ‘additional’ nutriiton.

Biotin is still D-biotin as this is the only form permited for food fortification. The way we’ve listed it compies with labelling regulations.

The micronutrient amounts have changed, some are more. We’re constantly reviewing our data and this is more thorough. The iron accuracy has improved and assures us that Huel contains plenty - needed due to some anti-nutrient losses.

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North America can’t come quickly for us. There’s been a few snags, but this is because we want to get everything right before launch.

D2 is absorbed just fine and D3 is non-vegan, as @IcyElemental points out. We’re looking at alternative sources but we need to be 100% sure before implimenting.

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Ooh one thing I noticed and am curious about. The iron content has gone up from (I believe) 40.9mg/day in v2.1 to 69.4mg/day in v2.2. Whilst that’s above the 45mg upper limit, it’s all non-haem and phytic acid will mean dangerous amounts aren’t absorbed, but my question is this: the ingredients list doesn’t show any form of iron being added in the list of micronutrients, and the carbohydrate content hasn’t gone up dramatically so this extra iron isn’t coming from an increase in oats - where is this increase in iron (~70% increase) coming from?

I’d like to know this too.

I semi watch my iron intake otherwise my blood Hematocrit rises fairly high (TRT) so bumping up the iron might not be ideal for everyone, probably a good thing for women though.

Good question @IcyElemental . As we’ve grown, we’ve been doing more investigations which means we have and increasingly amount of data and the new figure is more refelctive of what’s actually in Huel.

@Stole_My_Sweetroll - in respect of Huel, some iron will not be absorbed due to the phytic acid from the oats, so it’s important that we do have a good amount. The upper limit of iron is set for people who consume animal sources (haem) iron so it’s a poor figure. In my opinion there should be an upper limit for meat eaters and a different one for vegans.

@JamesCollier @TimOfficeHuel guys is this on the shelves for next order which will be next week also the gluten free bars? Still no sign of the steel bottles?

70mg a day (and more for in a 2,400kcal diet) seems likely excessive to me. I would imagine the upper limit doesn’t assume absence of phytic acid or that the iron is haem. On an issue as important as this, I’d want detailed evidence that Huel is safe, not hand-waving about phytic acid and the fact it’s non-haem.

Huel is high in vitamin C too. From this paper:

The inhibition of Fe absorption was strongly related to the amount of phytate added; 2 mg inhibited absorption by 18%, (p less than 0.001), 25 mg by 64% (p less than 0.001), and 250 mg by 82% (p less than 0.001). The addition of ascorbic acid significantly counteracted the inhibition…

Ages ago I suggested that the oat content be reduced.

HI @Michael1 - yes both Huel v.2.2 and Huel Bars v1.1 are in the warehouse ready for ordering now.

I’m not sure where we are with the bottles

It’s imperative that Huel contains sufficient non-haem iron due to the anti-nutrient effects. Huel is high in vitamin C on purpose for a number of reasons, one of which is it’s postive effects on non-haem iron absorption.

Oats have loads of nutritional benefits and their positives massively outweigh the potential negatives of the phytates which, as you’ve pointed out, we have a high iron intake to compensate for.