Is Huel good for you? An honest look at the UK's biggest meal shake

Key takeaways

• For most healthy adults, Huel is a good meal when it replaces a skipped or poor one.
• Research on Huel is small and short, so long-term evidence is thin.
• Which Huel you buy changes the protein, the sugar, the sweetener and the price.
• Huel counts as ultra-processed, but so does any shake with a non-sugar sweetener, including ours.
• Whole Supp takes a different route, with a whole-food superfood base and batch testing as standard.

For most healthy adults, Huel is good for you. It works best replacing a skipped or poor meal, not a varied diet.

The question matters more than ever. Danone has agreed to buy Huel in a deal reported at £860 million, and UK regulators have cleared it. Ultra-processed food headlines and a US lead test have also put meal shakes under scrutiny.

Whole Supp makes a meal shake too, so we stick to published facts. Where Huel leads, we say so.

How big is Huel in the UK?

Huel is the biggest supplier of ready-to-drink meal shakes in the UK. In its merger decision, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) names yfood as "the second largest supplier after Huel".

Huel's UK sales rose 26.5% to £139.3 million, according to FoodNavigator. The UK is its largest market, and its products are stocked in more than 17,000 UK stores.

What's in Huel, and does it depend which one you buy?

Yes. Huel sells several ranges, and the protein, sugar, sweetener and price change between them.

Huel Powder v3.1 is built on oat flour, pea protein, ground flaxseed, tapioca starch and brown rice protein. Each 400 kcal serving gives 30g of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. Flavoured versions use sucralose.

Black Edition is a higher-protein, lower-carb powder sweetened with stevia and coconut sugar. The ready-to-drink bottles are the grab-and-go option, at a higher price per meal.

Sources: Huel UK nutrition pages, the Ocado label for Black Edition powder and the Tesco product label.

Standard Huel Powder is the low-sugar option in the range, at 1.1g to 1.2g per serving.

What does the research say about Huel?

Published research on Huel is limited, and most of it is small or short.

The only study of people living on Huel alone was a four-week pilot. Newcastle researchers published it in Frontiers in Nutrition, and Huel paid for it. Twenty adults completed it, with no control group. Micronutrient status held up, and total cholesterol fell.

A newer Newcastle University trial tested a Huel breakfast against an animal-protein breakfast with the same 30g of protein. The 18 adults felt equally full after both, and ate similar amounts at their next meal.

Huel says a further satiety trial is under academic review. Until more is published, long-term evidence on Huel remains thin.

Is Huel ultra-processed, and does that matter?

Yes, flavoured Huel counts as ultra-processed, and so does our own shake. The NOVA system treats non-sugar sweeteners as a marker of ultra-processing. Huel uses sucralose or stevia, and Whole Supp uses sucralose at 0.055%.

Whether that harms health is less clear. A review in The Lancet found 92 of 104 long-term studies linked ultra-processed diets with higher chronic disease risk. Those studies are observational, so they show association rather than cause.

The UK's Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) reviewed the evidence and found consistent associations. It said it remains unclear how far those links are explained by the nutrient content of the food.

The fairer concern is variety. Only 4% of UK adults aged 19 to 64 meet the 30g daily fibre target. One shake, however complete, can't match the range of plants in a varied diet.

Should you worry about lead in Huel?

A US test raised a flag, but it isn't a UK safety ruling.

Consumer Reports (CR) tested 23 protein products bought in the US. A serving of Huel Black Edition chocolate powder contained 6.3µg of lead, about 1,288% of CR's level of concern. That level is CR's own benchmark, not a legal limit. CR also reported 9.2µg of cadmium per serving.

Huel disputes the benchmark and says its products sit well within NSF levels. Its own testing reports 1.5µg to 2.2µg of lead per serving. We found no UK or Irish regulator action on Huel and lead.

If heavy metals concern you, ask any brand for its contaminant test results.

Is it OK to drink Huel every day?

For most healthy adults, one Huel a day alongside varied meals is a reasonable pattern. Living on Huel alone long term hasn't been studied.

Some people notice bloating or wind at first, as their fibre intake jumps. Building up from one serving a day gives your gut time to adjust.

Each meal is a measured 400 kcal, which makes intake easy to track. Our guide to shakes and weight loss covers using one in a calorie deficit. If you have IBS, take diabetes medication or are pregnant, check with your GP first.

How does Whole Supp compare with Huel?

Whole Supp and Huel are both complete 400 kcal meals, but they start from different ingredients. Thirteen superfoods make up the vast majority of the Superfood Meal Shake. They include Montmorency cherries, broccoli, beetroot, spinach and red sea algae.

Huel leads on some numbers, and it's fair to say so. Standard Huel Powder has less sugar, more fibre and a lower price per meal.

Whole Supp's shake is Informed Sport certified as standard, low FODMAP, and carries 30 vitamins and minerals. Huel's certified version, Huel Professional, is sold separately.

Both columns are powders. Sources: Whole Supp product page and Huel UK nutrition pages.

Huel Powder has less sugar, more fibre and a lower price. Whole Supp differs on its whole-food base, low FODMAP and certification. Dr Brian Carson, who holds a PhD in physiology, co-founded Whole Supp with former professional athlete Darren O'Reilly.

The verdict: is Huel good for you?

Huel is good for most healthy adults as a convenient replacement for a skipped or poor meal. It doesn't replace a varied, plant-rich diet, and its long-term evidence is thin.

If your priority is the lowest sugar and price per meal, Huel Powder's figures are lower on both. If you want a whole-food superfood base, low FODMAP and Informed Sport testing as standard, choose Whole Supp. Our Huel alternatives guide compares other options too.

Compare for yourself: try Whole Supp

Frequently asked questions

Is Huel healthy long term?

Long-term evidence is thin. The longest study of people living on Huel alone lasted four weeks.

Can Huel cause bloating?

Some people notice bloating at first as their fibre intake rises. Build up gradually, and check with your GP if you have IBS.

Is Huel good for weight loss?

It can help, because each meal is a measured 400 kcal. It isn't a clinically supervised low-calorie programme.

Does Huel contain artificial sweeteners?

Flavoured Huel Powder and the standard ready-to-drink bottles use sucralose. Black Edition powder and bottles use stevia instead.

Can you live on Huel alone?

Huel is nutritionally complete, but living on it alone hasn't been studied beyond four weeks. A varied diet gives you a range of plants that a single shake can't.

Related product

Superfood Meal Shake

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