At the moment I’m considering returning my unopened Vanilla and getting U/U to rule out sucralose… It’s the only thing I can do really. If U/U doesn’t help I will have to give up on Huel which would be a shame as it does make my life significantly more manageable.
I read that in this previous thread, two people found that changing to U/U had no effect on bladder symptoms; in this blog post the guy found that switching to U/U gave “a definite decrease in irritability”. In this Reddit post the person said that their symptoms went away over time. Difficult to know whether it will help, but I’ll update here if I end up going for it.
I think the low sodium content is potentially the most likely candidate - how long have you been using it? If you’re having other food with a high salt content then it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that you could be releasing a err waterfall when your body is fed but with less salt.
There should be no diuretic effect. 40 minutes is on the frequent side. I know my post provides pretty much no information to you but is no reason for this effect, especially with only one meal a day.
@Talort I’ve been having it pretty much every day for 2 or 3 weeks. I noticed after the first 2 days and then kept going to test the effect of controlling my water intake, having less water with my Huel etc.
I will definitely try the salt thing when I’m next home all day, but having thought about it a bit more I’m not sure it will help. I have had those Weetabix meal replacement things before, which are also not very salty, without any ill effects, and with Huel the feeling I get is not of a mysterious need to urinate more often, but of a constant feeling of irritation around the bladder coupled with the strong urge to urinate, that is relieved momentarily by going to the bathroom and then picks back up immediately afterwards. Feels somewhat like a UTI basically, except it resolves completely on non-Huel days.
@Dan_Huel thanks for your response. I also can’t find a reason for this effect and think that this is baffling, although it has been documented before so I know I am not crazy. (Also, just to be clear, the 40 minutes each time is 40 minutes of actively resisting the strong urge to use the bathroom again despite there being very little in my bladder - it would be more often than that if I didn’t try to resist it.)
I had the same experience. But it died down after awhile. Or maybe I adapted to it. Hard to say.
Before it did die down I did notice that eating slightly more carbs after the Huel helped. I’m not using Huel to measure my calories so was able to do it. But I’d gotten used to eating a lot more carbs then are in Huel, without the carbs I started peeing more. I figured something in Huel wasn’t being absorbed without the carbs. So I’d just have a snack outside of Huel like a piece of toast or a bagel and cream cheese and it stopped.
I also drink less black coffee now when I’m drinking Huel (weekdays, breakfast and lunch) not sure if it’s related.
Just a thought, are you in a calorie deficit? If so could be because of the fat loss, fat is 16% water. I notice when I am dieting on a calorie deficit the more frequent need for wee.
There is a relation between blood sugar and serum potassium, which might explain why more carbs reduce diuresis. And it’s true that most meal replacement powders are lower-carb than a “regular” diet. There is also a link between blood sugar and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone axis. Another factor might be that a shake contains more water than a “regular” meal. The combination of both might cause your problems.
You could find this out by increasing the carb content of your shakes, e.g. by using juice instead of water, or something else with a high glucose content.
If you want to eliminate sucralose black edition would also be an option, but you have to keep in mind that black edition has a lower carb and higher protein content.
AS Dan said trying out other Huel products than the powder might also help you with your problem.
@Dan_Huel since it resolves completely when I stop having Huel I’m not that worried about it, I made the thread mainly because I’m curious about what I’m sensitive to, and hoped someone who has previously had this reaction might have found out by chance what they are intolerant to. Thank you for getting back to me with an official response as well, I really appreciate the customer engagement you guys have.
@Bee yeah I guess. I said ‘diuretic effect’ at first because I didn’t know bladder irritation was a thing until I read more posts about this and thought more about the specific feeling.
@samern@mbs I might try having more carbs with it as well to rule that out, thanks both for the suggestion.
@Hueli_cam I’m not in a calorie deficit. Thanks for the suggestion though.
Update: After some investigation, I’ve established that I have a sucralose sensitivity. This seems to be pretty rare and I can only find anecdotal mentions online. The good news is that I can continue to have U/U, which causes no bladder issues whatsoever, and also helps with my gut issues(!), which I strangely didn’t notice for Vanilla, perhaps because I was distracted by the other issue. Thanks again all for comments and suggestions.