You can see this as a kind of progression of the supplement industry, one where the delivery stands a better chance of matching the promise: For example, Coca-C

You can see this as a kind of progression of the supplement industry, one where the delivery stands a better chance of matching the promise: For example, Coca-Cola and Milo both marketed themselves as a form of "medicine" or "health food" early on, and then only later reworked their image as they became more evidently unhealthful to the public. And bodybuilding supplements have their own extremely checkered history[0]. Over time the categories of supplements with actual nutritional value have stuck it out in the market as they've proven themselves. So I see Soylent as another step forward - the necessary food processing to make these kinds of sophisticated supplement blends has gotten cheaper and more widely available with time, enabling more experiments. So the news for the future looks promising. It'll probably get cheaper. The nutritional value is likely to go upwards in future versions as more data is uncovered. And if it shows signs of success then there will be competing alternatives, for sure. [0] http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sex_news_sports_funny_grok/the_history_of_the_supplement_industry_part_i http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sex_news_sports_...