Recently I’ve learned Huel has some of the highest levels of lead compared to other vegan products given how adjacent this community is to biohacking and longevity I think this is a worthwhile discussion to explore deeper. I will no longer be drinking huel
I don’t have the cites at hand, but when this became the semipolitical topic du jour it was established that the amount of lead was still small compared to what an average European eats from normal food, and it’s just that California has a really strict criteria for dangerous lead levels with a quite high safety factor.
One serving of Huel’s Black Edition powder contained 6.3 micrograms of lead
EU average lead:
In average adult consumers, lead dietary exposure ranges from 0.36 to 1.24, up to 2.43 µg/kg body weight per day in high consumers in Europe
For a 55 kg (120 lb) person this would be 19.8-68.2 mcg/dy for average adults and 133.7 mcg/dy for high consumers.
Thus, it seems like consuming five servings of huel black per day (which would be pretty extreme!) results in a dietary lead exposure that is average for a 120 lb person in the EU (in 2010).
So how come consumer reports says it’s 150x their level of concern? It’s because they get their levels from California’s Prop 65, which takes the level at which there’s demonstrated risk and then divides by 1000.
Recently I’ve learned Huel has some of the highest levels of lead compared to other vegan products given how adjacent this community is to biohacking and longevity I think this is a worthwhile discussion to explore deeper. I will no longer be drinking huel
I don’t have the cites at hand, but when this became the semipolitical topic du jour it was established that the amount of lead was still small compared to what an average European eats from normal food, and it’s just that California has a really strict criteria for dangerous lead levels with a quite high safety factor.
Edit: Here’s some articles:
https://open.substack.com/pub/thebsdetector/p/huel-is-fine
huel lead content: https://www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein-powders-and-shakes-contain-high-levels-of-lead-a4206364640/
EU average lead:
For a 55 kg (120 lb) person this would be 19.8-68.2 mcg/dy for average adults and 133.7 mcg/dy for high consumers.
Thus, it seems like consuming five servings of huel black per day (which would be pretty extreme!) results in a dietary lead exposure that is average for a 120 lb person in the EU (in 2010).
So how come consumer reports says it’s 150x their level of concern? It’s because they get their levels from California’s Prop 65, which takes the level at which there’s demonstrated risk and then divides by 1000.