OTC digestive enzymes might help with some cases of diarrhea, I would think. One particular example would be in a person with “lactose intolerance”. Those people’s pancreas (me included) don’t make enough of the Lactase enzyme needed to split the lactose sugar into it’s 2 glucose components, and so lactose sugar remains in the intestines undigested and can exert an osmotic laxative effect. And then the gut bacteria in the colon may digest the lactose that didn’t get absorbed and release gas.
So I suppose if a person’s pancreas is not making enough of a particular enzyme, taking these OTC enzyme supplements may actually help with diarrhea.
However, if a person is having diarrhea with a wide range of different foods, getting that checked out by a doctor is a good idea. Having one particular food (dairy) give problems is one thing. But a general inability to properly digest foods could indicate inflammation or pathology in the pancreas.
I’m not sure if I replied to you specifically, or the post in general. So I’ll tag you @Deron.
Thanks for the great reply!
I only have diarrhea when I consume Huel, so I don’t think it is a larger issue.
I believe I may be lactose intolerant, although I’ve never been diagnosed as such, if there is such a diagnosis. I guess I didn’t realize that Huel contained lactose…
I will give the enzymes a try. I really don’t want to give up Huel, so I’m willing to try anything.
Huel itself contains no lactose or dairy. So unless you are mixing it in cow milk, your Huel should not have any.
If the diarrhea is from the increase in fiber content that you’re not used to, then these digestive enzymes won’t likely help. But a probiotic may be more likely to help if this is the cause.
But the digestive enzymes have very little downside so it’s worth a try.
As sordid as the topic may be, this has been an interesting and helpful thread. As someone who has been vegetarian for years and mostly vegan for most of 2019, I figured I would be ahead of the game on GI issues. And I think purely by accident, I’ve started off right: starting by only replacing 1 meal a day for now, mixing with the recommended amount of water, sipping it slowly over a couple hours, and drinking more water with it. I haven’t noticed an increased volume of gas, but…
OMG the smell! Now as a 15-year vegetarian, I can tell you definitively one of the advantages for me personally is that my emissions are almost always quite mild-smelling (think horse manure compared to carnivore manure), so it was a shock when two days in, I casually let one loose and the smell was like the sulfurous brimstone of hell! I’m a menace to society!
So I’ll definitely be trying some of the other fixes mentioned here…
I’ve only had the huel black, chocolate and vanilla. I enjoy the vanilla way more than the chocolate but lately I noticed it makes me super gassy and have heartburn sometimes. Vanilla seems to give me more farts than the chocolate. Both give me a little heartburn. I’m certain the issue isn’t the sucralose since it’s not in the huel black. I noticed that it seems less when i refrigerate it and let it sit for a while in the fridge and drink slower. But I haven’t found a solution yet.
I will say mine seems to have stopped once I switched to Black but also, I was refrigerating mine overnight up until last week. I haven’t noticed any gas issues without refrigeration this week. I will note I use an immersion blender and add a little extra water than called for.
I’m so glad I found this post because I’ve been to embarrassed to say anything about that…I’ve been blaming it on the dog…and I’m very serious!!! And to add on to the embarrassment I just found out my daughter took my dog to the vet because she thinks the dog has a stomach virus!!!
Mine were downright foul, at first. I mean holy Moses! I had to leave the room, and I live alone!! Not so much after about a month or so. Hang in there, it gets better.
Hi there! Oh no! That does not sound like a fun experience. @DM87 is correct about the fiber! You want to be sure to introduce Huel into your daily intake 1 or 2 times per day a few days a week to start so that your body can adjust! Let me know if that helps with any gastrointestinal distress you are experiencing or if it continues even after giving your body the time to adjust and I can provide you with a few more suggestions!
So I have maybe a different experience, and reasons why. I did the exact opposite of the advice of easing into it by going to 3 Huel meals daily on my first day; v3 for breakfast, hot and savory for lunch and black for dinner, with snacks in between. I have now, for about a week moved to v3 for breakfast and lunch and black for dinner.
I haven’t experienced bloating or gas at all during my first 2 weeks on Huel.
I think the reason is I have been vegan, drinking green smoothies and eating whole grain food bowels for close to ten years now. I was aware of others experiences around this issue before I bought Huel, so I have been paying attention, and I can tell say that only have I not had any increase, I think consuming Huel has reduced those issues to almost nil.
Now, I only seem to be having gas after eating normal dinners a few times a week, but’s it’s much less than before.
Yeah, I’d say that what I eat isn’t always the healthiest, sometimes it is, sometimes it’s not. I plan to let myself eat what I’m in the mood for the few times a week I’ll eat non-Huel, since it seems the amount it takes to fill me up is getting less all the time, I assume I can’t do too much damage. Processed food always has a negative impact on my digestion
