How Well are the Vitamins and Minerals in Huel Absorbed?

Huel Products contain optimum levels of all vitamins and minerals (a.k.a. micronutrients), and takes into account numerous factors, including the form used, interactions with other constituents of Huel, nutrient bioavailability, and the shelf life of the product. The bioavailability of a nutrient refers to the amount of a nutrient that is absorbed and goes on to have an effect in the body.

Daily Values (DVs) are the suggested intake levels for each nutrient and are based on the amount required to prevent deficiency and to allow for some storage^[1]. DVs cover the majority of the population and take into account factors that affect absorption (e.g. the constituents of a meal, activity, health of the individual, age, sex) and the bioavailability of different forms of a micronutrient.

Are micronutrients in their isolated form less beneficial than when consumed from whole foods?

To a degree, this is the case, but it doesn’t apply to all micronutrients. Firstly, around half the micronutrients in Huel Powder v3.0 are provided from the main ingredients (see About the Vitamins and Minerals in Huel), i.e. they come from whole foods. Secondly, when consuming the vitamins and minerals in Huel Products, you’re not having them in isolation as Huel Products are complete food. Of particular relevance is the fiber and fat content of a meal: isolated nutrients aren’t absorbed as well as those from whole foods because fiber improves the efficiency of digestion allowing better micronutrient absorption, and fat in a meal aids the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins (i.e. vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K).

A method of analyzing how quickly a food is digested and absorbed is the glycemic index (GI), which measures the rate at which a food raises the blood sugar level. Low GI foods raise blood sugar levels slowly and allow more time to absorb micronutrients. Huel products are low GI^{[2, 3]}.

Some phytonutrients aid and others inhibit (as in the case of antinutrients) the absorption of vitamins and minerals. There are also interactions between different micronutrients, for example, the effects of phytic acid on zinc and the interactions between iron, calcium, phytic acid, polyphenols, and vitamin C.

Huel Products are rich in both fiber and high-quality fat, and we’ve addressed the issues concerning antinutrients. Huel Products are a meal, so micronutrients are not consumed in their isolated form, and this mitigates any concern.

Are the vitamins and minerals in Huel synthetic, and hence absorbed less well?

Huel Powder v3.0 contains mostly natural forms of vitamins and minerals, but in a few cases, the synthetic forms have been used as they are nutritionally superior to natural variants. The terms ‘artificial’ or ‘synthetic’ can make people feel uneasy, but the body cannot tell the difference between, for example, an ascorbic acid (vitamin C) molecule extracted from fruit, or an ascorbic acid molecule synthesized in a lab. The reason why there may be differences in absorption rates of vitamin C in isolated forms from, say, an orange, vs. synthetic forms is purely due to the isolation point discussed above and has nothing to do with it being ‘synthetic’. If you extract and isolate vitamin C from the orange and compare that isolated vitamin C with the isolated, synthetic vitamin C, the absorption rate is identical.

The form of a micronutrient used may also be the most stable over the shelf life of a product, or indeed, some forms are not permitted to be used for food fortification. For example, synthetic cyanocobalamin is the form of vitamin B12 in Huel products, even though there are studies that indicate that a natural form, methylcobalamin, has higher bioavailability. Methylcobalamin is not stable in food over shelf life and there are issues with it's stability. Furthermore, whilst methylcobalamin is more bioactive once it’s been absorbed, cyanocobalamin is absorbed by the body more readily.

Where a higher amount of a micronutrient might be required due to the effects of other food constituents, like antinutrients, we’ve ensured that a higher amount is present to optimize bioavailability.

References

1. FDA. CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 2016 [Available from: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/cfrsearch.cfm?fr=101.9].
2. Lightowler H, et al. Glycaemic Index Value for Huel Vanilla Powder v2.3. Oxford Brookes Centre for Nutrition and Health, Oxford Brookes University; 2018.
3. Lightowler H, et al. Glycaemic Index Value for Huel Vanilla Ready-To-Drink. Oxford Brookes Centre for Nutrition and Health, Oxford Brookes University; 2018.