Congrats on the new bearded dragon! Aren't they awesome?? And welcome to bd.org. I have never feed mealworms to a bearded dragon, so I can't give you any advice on it causing impaction. I can tell you what other people say, but to be honest I would just be repeating what you have already read, which is kinda useless. LOL
Here is my opinion of mealworms. Every worm has a different nutritional value. I look at all of the worms that are available as feeders, and I have chosen a few to give a varied diet and to cover all the nutritional needs. Mealworms are high in phosphorous. When you feed a diet high in phosphorous, it unbalances the dragon's diet with respect to calcium. Calcium is extremely important for proper organ function, especially the cardiac system and the liver. A dragon's body will naturally try to keep a certain level of calcium in its bloodstream. If it is unable to get that calcium into the bloodstream from diet and systhesis of Vitamin D3 from UVB lighting and supplements, it will take calcium from the bones. That is how dragons and other reptiles get metabolic bone disease.
The ideal diet for a bearded dragon will have a calcium to phosphorous ratio of 2:1. That is 2 parts calcium to 1 part phosphorous. A mealworm's calcium to phosphorous ratio is 1:25! That's the worst ratio of any feeder out there.
This is why I don't feed mealworms. It's not because people talk about their hard shells and them being hard to digest. There are people who claim to have fed their dragons hundreds of mealworms over the years and have never had impaction.
It's the science behind the nutritional requirements of bearded dragons that steers me away from this feeder.
You can feed crickets, dubia or discoid roaches, silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, black soldier fly larvae (Repti-Worms) and the occasional waxworm treat. They are all much better in that ratio. Actually the butterworm is naturally high in calcium and so is the black soldier fly larvae. Silkworms and hornworms have a wonderful ratio, and crickets are 1:12, which isn't all that great, but when combined with other feeders in a balanced diet they are just fine to feed.
I hope I have helped! :mrgreen: