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What's going on with Soylent these days? They've been out for a while, so I'd be interested to learn about any (relatively) long term studies that came out abou

What's going on with Soylent these days? They've been out for a while, so I'd be interested to learn about any (relatively) long term studies that came out about the health effects of a soylent-only diet.

xeromal 9y ago
Not sure if it's a meme, but reddit/hackernews seem to harp on soylent and prefer Ensure which seems to have more nutrients per meal.
- t0mbstone 9y ago
  Ensure is made with milk, though, which a lot of people are allergic to
  - pandemicsyn 9y ago
    So is Soylent occasionally - https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls/ucm554489.htm https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls/ucm554489.htm
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    Milk is a common allergen, especially among young children, but Soylent is also made with common food allergens (notably, soy protein and gluten), so on balance that issue is kind of a wash (or, maybe, advantage to Ensure), though specific users may avoid one or the other based on their specific allergies and conditions.
- josephst18 9y ago
  And the disclaimer to the meme: it’s worth pointing out that Soylent Drink gets about 2.5% of its calories from added sugar while Ensure Original gets 27% of its calories from added sugars.
  - josephst18 9y ago
    Correction: neglected to multiply by 4 kcal/g for the sugar in Soylent. Correct number is 9% calories from sugar in bottled Soylent.
handbanana 9y ago
From what I can tell the main ingredients are: Filtered Water, Maltodextrin, Soy Protein Isolate, High Oleic Algal Oil, Isomaltulose, Canola Oil, Rice Starch, Oat Fiber, Isomaltooligosaccharide. So water, misc carb powders, protein powder, and misc high mono unsaturated fat oils. Yes they also add some vitamins/minerals etc. But essentially its just water, powder, and oil. I'm not sure if your question was fuelled by your interest in making this a main part of your diet, or if it already is, or if you were asking in jest?
- tejaswiy 9y ago
  Oh no, it was definitely a serious question. When the product came out, I was excited about replacing atleast one of my meals (probably dinner) with Soylent. I held off because I was uncomfortable switching to something that can potentially have negative long term health consequences. I was just wondering if there were any studies done on people that were purely on a soylent diet to feel more comfortable about drinking it.
skybrian 9y ago
They've been silent on health benefits. The blog seems to be all about new variations and marketing. It's kind of annoying since being interested in and relatively transparent about health stuff is how they got started.
- Amygaz 9y ago
  Well that CEO transitions makes it clear that this isn't about developing a product anymore, but selling a brand. That new CEO is not going to develop and long lasting company, he is going for the sale. And the timing is good.

xeromal 9y ago

Not sure if it's a meme, but reddit/hackernews seem to harp on soylent and prefer Ensure which seems to have more nutrients per meal.

t0mbstone 9y ago
Ensure is made with milk, though, which a lot of people are allergic to
- pandemicsyn 9y ago
  So is Soylent occasionally - https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls/ucm554489.htm https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls/ucm554489.htm
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  Milk is a common allergen, especially among young children, but Soylent is also made with common food allergens (notably, soy protein and gluten), so on balance that issue is kind of a wash (or, maybe, advantage to Ensure), though specific users may avoid one or the other based on their specific allergies and conditions.
josephst18 9y ago
And the disclaimer to the meme: it’s worth pointing out that Soylent Drink gets about 2.5% of its calories from added sugar while Ensure Original gets 27% of its calories from added sugars.
- josephst18 9y ago
  Correction: neglected to multiply by 4 kcal/g for the sugar in Soylent. Correct number is 9% calories from sugar in bottled Soylent.

handbanana 9y ago

From what I can tell the main ingredients are: Filtered Water, Maltodextrin, Soy Protein Isolate, High Oleic Algal Oil, Isomaltulose, Canola Oil, Rice Starch, Oat Fiber, Isomaltooligosaccharide. So water, misc carb powders, protein powder, and misc high mono unsaturated fat oils. Yes they also add some vitamins/minerals etc. But essentially its just water, powder, and oil. I'm not sure if your question was fuelled by your interest in making this a main part of your diet, or if it already is, or if you were asking in jest?

tejaswiy 9y ago
Oh no, it was definitely a serious question. When the product came out, I was excited about replacing atleast one of my meals (probably dinner) with Soylent. I held off because I was uncomfortable switching to something that can potentially have negative long term health consequences. I was just wondering if there were any studies done on people that were purely on a soylent diet to feel more comfortable about drinking it.

skybrian 9y ago

They've been silent on health benefits. The blog seems to be all about new variations and marketing. It's kind of annoying since being interested in and relatively transparent about health stuff is how they got started.

Amygaz 9y ago
Well that CEO transitions makes it clear that this isn't about developing a product anymore, but selling a brand. That new CEO is not going to develop and long lasting company, he is going for the sale. And the timing is good.