A cursory glance through Google reveals that, with Soylent specifically, there’s a lot of skepticism and concern over long-term health effects in the nutrition community. A search as trite as “Soylent, good for you” started off with a full page of “why this does not work” articles and Wikipedia. Of course, Google is not a scholarly platform and page one of Google is not a bibliography of scholars. Search result number one is from a “nutritionista” who studies “holistic nutrition.” Still, this is a new product, developed by people who are not nutritional researchers, made popular by spreading through counterculture channels, so real scholarship is scarce. Take that as you will.
For my part, Soylent is something I would like to work. I have Crohn’s Disease, so any leg up on digestive health is one I’m willing to explore. But it’s that same quality that makes me hold off on trying something like Soylent or MealSquares. I assume that any long term detrimental effects such things may be revealed to have on healthy people will be amplified dangerously for me. And if my only consolation is “You can save time and energy not cooking,” then it isn’t worth it. I can already control my diet well enough by cooking my own meals and knowing what goes in them. Not everyone has that luxury, though.
As I’m not a health specialist, my only way of judging food stuffs is by the ingredients list. What’s in it? I’ve seen different lists for Soylent, none of which impressed me enough to change my beliefs, but that doesn’t mean they won’t change/I’m not mistaken. If you want to improve its standing or help find the flaws holding its acceptance back, try it, tell us about how it’s working for you, spread the word of your experience. This thing began as a scientific means of developing a meal alternative and has developed into a scientific, engineered meal supplement. In other words, it’s still an experiment. If you want to help by replicating, I’ll certainly be paying attention.
One thing from the link above that I didn’t previously know: “The Soylent recipe is based on the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and is approved as a food by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).” (emphasis theirs)
Is “approved as a food” like those fake star naming companies which claim that that the star names are in the library of Congress?
The FDA approving it as a food doesn’t mean the FDA approves of it being consumed in a specific way. I’m pretty sure ketchup is approved as a food too, but that doesn’t mean you can drink a bottle of it for lunch each day and stay healthy.
One thing from the link above that I didn’t previously know: “The Soylent recipe is based on the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and is approved as a food by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).” (emphasis theirs)
That triggers my bullshit detector.
FDA does not “approve as food”. It has a list of substances which have been approved as food additives or are GRAS (generally recognized as safe, basically a grandfathering clause). I’m willing to believe that Soylent ingredients all come from that FDA-approved list. That does not mean that the FDA approved Soylent as food.
Rain, thanks for the link. I’m impressed they factored in the question of Crohns/IBS. Most people tend to forget the issue.
I hope to get a chance to talk to my GI about it and some other supplements soon, when I have more time to judge his reliability (new guy so the verdict’s still out), just so I can have his opinion on the subject.
A cursory glance through Google reveals that, with Soylent specifically, there’s a lot of skepticism and concern over long-term health effects in the nutrition community. A search as trite as “Soylent, good for you” started off with a full page of “why this does not work” articles and Wikipedia. Of course, Google is not a scholarly platform and page one of Google is not a bibliography of scholars. Search result number one is from a “nutritionista” who studies “holistic nutrition.” Still, this is a new product, developed by people who are not nutritional researchers, made popular by spreading through counterculture channels, so real scholarship is scarce. Take that as you will.
For my part, Soylent is something I would like to work. I have Crohn’s Disease, so any leg up on digestive health is one I’m willing to explore. But it’s that same quality that makes me hold off on trying something like Soylent or MealSquares. I assume that any long term detrimental effects such things may be revealed to have on healthy people will be amplified dangerously for me. And if my only consolation is “You can save time and energy not cooking,” then it isn’t worth it. I can already control my diet well enough by cooking my own meals and knowing what goes in them. Not everyone has that luxury, though.
As I’m not a health specialist, my only way of judging food stuffs is by the ingredients list. What’s in it? I’ve seen different lists for Soylent, none of which impressed me enough to change my beliefs, but that doesn’t mean they won’t change/I’m not mistaken. If you want to improve its standing or help find the flaws holding its acceptance back, try it, tell us about how it’s working for you, spread the word of your experience. This thing began as a scientific means of developing a meal alternative and has developed into a scientific, engineered meal supplement. In other words, it’s still an experiment. If you want to help by replicating, I’ll certainly be paying attention.
The FAQ addresses Crohn’s Disease: “more data needed”.
https://faq.soylent.me/hc/en-us/articles/200838449-Will-Soylent-help-my-Crohns-or-IBS-
It also has a full list of ingredients.
https://faq.soylent.me/hc/en-us/articles/200789315-Soylent-1-0-Nutrition
One thing from the link above that I didn’t previously know: “The Soylent recipe is based on the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and is approved as a food by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).” (emphasis theirs)
Is “approved as a food” like those fake star naming companies which claim that that the star names are in the library of Congress?
The FDA approving it as a food doesn’t mean the FDA approves of it being consumed in a specific way. I’m pretty sure ketchup is approved as a food too, but that doesn’t mean you can drink a bottle of it for lunch each day and stay healthy.
That triggers my bullshit detector.
FDA does not “approve as food”. It has a list of substances which have been approved as food additives or are GRAS (generally recognized as safe, basically a grandfathering clause). I’m willing to believe that Soylent ingredients all come from that FDA-approved list. That does not mean that the FDA approved Soylent as food.
Rain, thanks for the link. I’m impressed they factored in the question of Crohns/IBS. Most people tend to forget the issue.
I hope to get a chance to talk to my GI about it and some other supplements soon, when I have more time to judge his reliability (new guy so the verdict’s still out), just so I can have his opinion on the subject.