I actually thought this way at first, but after reading up more on nutrition, I’m slightly skeptical that soylent would work as a mono-diet. For instance, fruits have been suggested to contain chemical complexes that assist in absorption of vitamins. These chemical complexes may not exist in soylent. In addition, there hasn’t really been any long-term study of the toxic effects of soylent. Almost all the ingredients are the result of nontrivial chemical processing, and you inevitably get some impurities. Even if your ingredient is 99.99% pure, that 0.01% impurity could nevertheless be something with extremely damaging long-term toxicity. For instance, heavy metals, or chemicals that mimic the action of hormones.
Obviously, toxic chemicals exist in ordinary food as well. This is why variety is important. Variety in what you eat is not just important for the sake of chemicals you get, but for the sake of chemicals you don’t get. If one of your food sources is tainted, having variety means you aren’t exposed to that specific chemical in levels that would be damaging.
I still think it’s promising though, and I think we’ll eventually get there. It may take a few years, but I think we’ll definitely arrive on a food substitute that has everything the body needs and nothing the body doesn’t need. Such a food substitute would be even more healthy than ‘fresh food’. I just doubt that this first iteration of Soylent has hit that mark.
It seems to me that Soylent is at least as healthy as many protein powders and mass gainers that athletes and bodybuilders have been using for quite some time. That is to say, it dependson quality manufacturing. If Soylent does a poor job picking their suppliers, then it might be actively toxic.
I actually thought this way at first, but after reading up more on nutrition, I’m slightly skeptical that soylent would work as a mono-diet. For instance, fruits have been suggested to contain chemical complexes that assist in absorption of vitamins. These chemical complexes may not exist in soylent. In addition, there hasn’t really been any long-term study of the toxic effects of soylent. Almost all the ingredients are the result of nontrivial chemical processing, and you inevitably get some impurities. Even if your ingredient is 99.99% pure, that 0.01% impurity could nevertheless be something with extremely damaging long-term toxicity. For instance, heavy metals, or chemicals that mimic the action of hormones.
Obviously, toxic chemicals exist in ordinary food as well. This is why variety is important. Variety in what you eat is not just important for the sake of chemicals you get, but for the sake of chemicals you don’t get. If one of your food sources is tainted, having variety means you aren’t exposed to that specific chemical in levels that would be damaging.
I still think it’s promising though, and I think we’ll eventually get there. It may take a few years, but I think we’ll definitely arrive on a food substitute that has everything the body needs and nothing the body doesn’t need. Such a food substitute would be even more healthy than ‘fresh food’. I just doubt that this first iteration of Soylent has hit that mark.
I’ll be watching Soylent with interest.
It seems to me that Soylent is at least as healthy as many protein powders and mass gainers that athletes and bodybuilders have been using for quite some time. That is to say, it depends on quality manufacturing. If Soylent does a poor job picking their suppliers, then it might be actively toxic.