Recently the clean label project released a study on protein powders and found many of them full of heavy metals, etc.
http://www.cleanlabelproject.org/protein-powder/
Is anyone aware of a similar study for Huel or know it’s impurity status?
Do we think that heavy metals are ‘impuritys’? They’re natrually occurring and I certainly don’t think of their presence as impure.
A recent heavy metal test is here (this is based on US Huel Vanilla v1.0).
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Impure or not, they are not good for you
Heavy metals are naturally occurring, but whether protein powders contain harmful substances, I would not trust the clean label project. Much of their information has been proven to be inaccurate. They came under scrutiny when they tried to sue champion pet foods based on information they had published about high levels of lead and other contaminants that they supposedly found in the food. However, the food was tested for the lawsuit, and the lawsuit was found to be baseless. The information that the clean label project had was incorrect. I have also compared their results to consumer lab, and based on that, some of their stuff for supplements and things is not correct. I honestly think they may be making up some of this information. How do you know that they actually tested? Because they tell you? Anyone can make a website and put whatever values on it they want. I would take consumer lab has a much more trusted source of information. Also, many companies of protein powders in supplements will give you a certificate of analysis because they test their own food because they don’t want to be on the line if something happened. So you could ask them, how do you test your food? How do you make sure that contamination doesn’t occur throughout your production line? Could you provide me test results? You really should look up this lawsuit with champion pet foods. This brand is probably one of the least contaminated on the market, and a clean label project was saying that this food had contaminants, but if you look at other foods on there like Science Diet, those apparently pass. I don’t think that clean label project actually file the lawsuit. I think that it was filed by a third-party based on the results that were obtained from clean label project and the lawsuit was thrown out when those results turned out not to be accurate.
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@JamesCollier I think this is a very dangerous and misleading statement you are making, and something Huel as a company should look into more. YES heavy metals like Lead are dangerous!
If you recommend that a pure huel diet is safe I hope you know that you are within FDA guidelines, otherwise you need to warn people!
We are within FDA guidelines 
Huel is safe.
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At how many calories (or servings) per day of huel do you surpass them? If it’s 4ug per 400 calorie serving you surpass the daily 12.5 ug at about 1500 calories. I have been consuming about 2500 calories per day that’s over 24 ug of lead per day.
This link is European, but the same science applies in the US: https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/metals-contaminants-food. There is little, to no risk from the tiny amount in Huel.
Small amounts of heavy metals are present in nearly all foods and drinks, naturally occurring within the soil in which some ingredients are grown. These amounts can also come from the animal feed that animals consume and then transfer to foods. In 2014, the FDA published a five-year study of heavy metals found in commonly bought grocery store items. This study showed that the heavy metals arsenic, cadmium and lead were prevalent in a vast amount of food items. It’s likely that you’re consuming levels higher than what you would get form Huel every day. Here are a few examples:
Essentially it’s not really an issue. If you feel, personally, that it is you can reduce your Huel intake. However, it’s very likely that switching to other foods will have little impact on your dietary heavy metal intake.
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Thanks for the reply. I just had a blood test done today testing lead levels in my blood. I will post the results when they are returned.
I do love the product and hope it has not elevated the levels of lead in my blood over the past few years of regularly consuming it.
Please do as we are more than happy to work with you to help find the amount of Huel in your diet that suits you best. I will surprised if it has resulted in unsafe levels. Again, an increase/decrease will also depend on your diet prior to Huel.
Wanted to provide an update on my blood lead levels, and good news to all huelers, none was detected. This is after considerable (60-100% of my daily calories) consumption for almost over a year.
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Thanks Jrk90! As a side note, I freaking love science!
That’s great news! It’s great to hear you can continue having Huel as much as you currently do.
The above table is misleading. Everyone is talking in microgram language, and you posted a table containing values in part per million.
No one will be able to compare those values to micrograms without going through great lengths to figure the formulas to use.
Sorry Joe that you find it misleading.
1ug/g = 1ppm.
The table was provided by the FDA as ppm is the standard unit used when discussing heavy metals.
Thank you! After googling around for a bit, it made sense.
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