6 ms·

What worries me is that soylent is 20% based on soy. Some studies indicate that eating a heavily soy based diet leads to increased estrogen levels. Which can ha

by jcfrei 11y ago

What worries me is that soylent is 20% based on soy. Some studies indicate that eating a heavily soy based diet leads to increased estrogen levels. Which can have negative side effects regardless of your gender. [0]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3074428/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3074428/ [1]: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303720711007374 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303720711...

DarkTree 11y ago
yeah thanks for citing this. It was a deal breaker for me.
- pbreit 11y ago
  Why is that?
  - DarkTree 11y ago
    What do you mean? Did you read the parent comment?
anon3_ 11y ago
Exactly, you don't want protein. You want whey. These guys don't quite know what they're talking about. Or there smart and playing the sheep like a fiddle. My fear is that these guys are laughing their way to the bank suckering people into this stuff.
- DarkTree 11y ago
  whey is protein. It's the protein derived from dairy products. Also, I think the founder, Rob Rhinehart, is genuinely trying to make a good product that benefits consumers. Whether the results show these benefits or not, does not mean he is "laughing himself to the bank".
  - anon3_ 11y ago
    I can't edit it, but I meant you don't want soy.
superplussed 11y ago
This sentence gave me pause: "The protein source is soy, which contains an ideal ratio of amino acids for excellent nutrition ..." You can argue the merits of one protein source over another, but I think to declare any non-animal protein source as "ideal" in any way would require some evidence to be presented. Unfortunately, it shows that they are glossing over the hard decisions that have to be made in creating a product like this with so much empty marketing-speak.
- sp332 11y ago
  I thought it was pretty common knowledge. Whole civilizations depend on soy protein. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_protein#Nutrition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_protein#Nutrition "Based on this method, soy protein is considered to have a similar equivalent in protein quality to animal proteins. Egg white has a score of 1.00, soy concentrate 0.99, beef 0.92, and isolated soy protein 0.92."
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
  - sp332 11y ago
    Do you have a source? All I can find is a wikipedia page saying that beef has quite high protein digestibility score, and a statement that most animal proteins have sufficient levels of essential amino acids.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
  - grmarcil 11y ago
    This is incorrect. Compare the definition of a complete protein [1] and the amino acid composition of, for example, beef [2]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein [2]: http://www.hammernutrition.com/knowledge/protein-debate-which-protein-is-best.2897.html http://www.hammernutrition.com/knowledge/protein-debate-whic... (see heading "COMPARISON OF AMINO ACID PROFILES IN COMMON PROTEINS")
ejcx 11y ago
There's a lot of misinformation about soy and estrogen levels. This[0] is required reading for soy [0] http://examine.com/faq/is-soy-good-or-bad-for-me/ http://examine.com/faq/is-soy-good-or-bad-for-me/ Ps thanks sol (the owner of examine)
- Someone1234 11y ago
  I read your link. I didn't see what you were implying is "misinformation" if anything the link only supports that there is legitimate concerns about soy and that the only group to benefit are women with low estrogen levels (postmenopausal). Also the article says things like: "[lowers] LDL and Total Cholesterol" but doesn't dive into the fact that lowering your total cholesterol is bad for your health. Since there is good and bad cholesterols, if you lower everything you're damaging your health (see the 1980s obsession with lowering all cholesterols for example). But, yes, lowering LDL alone is good as far as we know. I don't think day to day people need to be actively avoiding soy, or heck even not having the occasional soy based meal. But we're talking about a meal replacement diet based almost entirely on soy, that's a big deal, and the health implications cannot just be glossed over. If anything your link has made more more concerned about the impact of a purely Soylent diet on all groups except postmenopausal women who may benefit.
zeteo 11y ago
>What worries me is that soylent is 20% based on soy. Some studies indicate that eating a heavily soy based diet leads to increased estrogen levels Here's what they have to say about this [1]: >There are some public concerns about high consumption of soy, but Rhinehart is quick to dismiss them. "Because we’re not using whole soy, we’re just using the protein isolate…the isoflavone levels are much lower than what they would be in soy flour or tofu. There are some levels, but they’re well below any that have shown to have an effect," he explained. "There was somewhat specious research in the past on what impact soy can have on testosterone levels and those have been widely debunked. We’ve certainly done our research here and we’ll be posting our analysis on the Web as well." [1]http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/08/soylent-2-0-is-coming-pre-mixed-in-a-bottle/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/08/soylent-2-0-is-coming...
- tdaltonc 11y ago
  It's like people think that they know some nutritional secret that soylent hasn't thought of. I take them on their word that they're taking this seriously and every time I read a comment about "Soylent is so clueless! How could they have thought of 'X'?!" then I google "soylent X" and find an extremely detained post explaining how they're taken 'X' in to account.
  - lightbritefight 11y ago
    Dunning-kruger in effect. We are all at least layman when it comes to nutrition and health, so you get people who dont know what they dont know commenting on something to reassure their views. They dont do the research, because they already "know" the right answer. We should be skeptical of any food stuff the purports to be nutritionally near perfect, but Soylent looks like its on track.
    - DanBC 11y ago
      > Dunning-kruger in effect Are you talking about Soylent or people criticising Soylent? Because, for a company that's supposed to have done all tue research, they've made a couple of errors. That might not sound like much but liquid feeds are not new; there are plenty of people that have experience in liquid feeds; so there's not much excuse to make the mistakes Soylent made.
day_ 11y ago
I love Soylent, but because they use Soy protein, I have stopped using it. I would drink it every day, all day if they used an animal protein source. I haven't read latest research, but even if there is a slim chance it increases estrogen levels, I don't want to risk it.
- 222www 11y ago
  Ok...

by jcfrei 11y ago

DarkTree 11y ago

yeah thanks for citing this. It was a deal breaker for me.

pbreit 11y ago
Why is that?
- DarkTree 11y ago
  What do you mean? Did you read the parent comment?

anon3_ 11y ago

Exactly, you don't want protein. You want whey. These guys don't quite know what they're talking about. Or there smart and playing the sheep like a fiddle. My fear is that these guys are laughing their way to the bank suckering people into this stuff.

DarkTree 11y ago
whey is protein. It's the protein derived from dairy products. Also, I think the founder, Rob Rhinehart, is genuinely trying to make a good product that benefits consumers. Whether the results show these benefits or not, does not mean he is "laughing himself to the bank".
- anon3_ 11y ago
  I can't edit it, but I meant you don't want soy.

superplussed 11y ago

This sentence gave me pause: "The protein source is soy, which contains an ideal ratio of amino acids for excellent nutrition ..." You can argue the merits of one protein source over another, but I think to declare any non-animal protein source as "ideal" in any way would require some evidence to be presented. Unfortunately, it shows that they are glossing over the hard decisions that have to be made in creating a product like this with so much empty marketing-speak.

sp332 11y ago
I thought it was pretty common knowledge. Whole civilizations depend on soy protein. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_protein#Nutrition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_protein#Nutrition "Based on this method, soy protein is considered to have a similar equivalent in protein quality to animal proteins. Egg white has a score of 1.00, soy concentrate 0.99, beef 0.92, and isolated soy protein 0.92."
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
- sp332 11y ago
  Do you have a source? All I can find is a wikipedia page saying that beef has quite high protein digestibility score, and a statement that most animal proteins have sufficient levels of essential amino acids.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- grmarcil 11y ago
  This is incorrect. Compare the definition of a complete protein [1] and the amino acid composition of, for example, beef [2]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein [2]: http://www.hammernutrition.com/knowledge/protein-debate-which-protein-is-best.2897.html http://www.hammernutrition.com/knowledge/protein-debate-whic... (see heading "COMPARISON OF AMINO ACID PROFILES IN COMMON PROTEINS")

ejcx 11y ago

There's a lot of misinformation about soy and estrogen levels. This[0] is required reading for soy [0] http://examine.com/faq/is-soy-good-or-bad-for-me/ http://examine.com/faq/is-soy-good-or-bad-for-me/ Ps thanks sol (the owner of examine)

Someone1234 11y ago
I read your link. I didn't see what you were implying is "misinformation" if anything the link only supports that there is legitimate concerns about soy and that the only group to benefit are women with low estrogen levels (postmenopausal). Also the article says things like: "[lowers] LDL and Total Cholesterol" but doesn't dive into the fact that lowering your total cholesterol is bad for your health. Since there is good and bad cholesterols, if you lower everything you're damaging your health (see the 1980s obsession with lowering all cholesterols for example). But, yes, lowering LDL alone is good as far as we know. I don't think day to day people need to be actively avoiding soy, or heck even not having the occasional soy based meal. But we're talking about a meal replacement diet based almost entirely on soy, that's a big deal, and the health implications cannot just be glossed over. If anything your link has made more more concerned about the impact of a purely Soylent diet on all groups except postmenopausal women who may benefit.

zeteo 11y ago

>What worries me is that soylent is 20% based on soy. Some studies indicate that eating a heavily soy based diet leads to increased estrogen levels Here's what they have to say about this [1]: >There are some public concerns about high consumption of soy, but Rhinehart is quick to dismiss them. "Because we’re not using whole soy, we’re just using the protein isolate…the isoflavone levels are much lower than what they would be in soy flour or tofu. There are some levels, but they’re well below any that have shown to have an effect," he explained. "There was somewhat specious research in the past on what impact soy can have on testosterone levels and those have been widely debunked. We’ve certainly done our research here and we’ll be posting our analysis on the Web as well." [1]http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/08/soylent-2-0-is-coming-pre-mixed-in-a-bottle/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/08/soylent-2-0-is-coming...

tdaltonc 11y ago
It's like people think that they know some nutritional secret that soylent hasn't thought of. I take them on their word that they're taking this seriously and every time I read a comment about "Soylent is so clueless! How could they have thought of 'X'?!" then I google "soylent X" and find an extremely detained post explaining how they're taken 'X' in to account.
- lightbritefight 11y ago
  Dunning-kruger in effect. We are all at least layman when it comes to nutrition and health, so you get people who dont know what they dont know commenting on something to reassure their views. They dont do the research, because they already "know" the right answer. We should be skeptical of any food stuff the purports to be nutritionally near perfect, but Soylent looks like its on track.
  - DanBC 11y ago
    > Dunning-kruger in effect Are you talking about Soylent or people criticising Soylent? Because, for a company that's supposed to have done all tue research, they've made a couple of errors. That might not sound like much but liquid feeds are not new; there are plenty of people that have experience in liquid feeds; so there's not much excuse to make the mistakes Soylent made.

day_ 11y ago

I love Soylent, but because they use Soy protein, I have stopped using it. I would drink it every day, all day if they used an animal protein source. I haven't read latest research, but even if there is a slim chance it increases estrogen levels, I don't want to risk it.

222www 11y ago
Ok...