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Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

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Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#71

Post by squeaky-clean »

Xisiqomelir wrote: post #19

I'm still amazed people pay for this shit when fully-regulated formulated meal replacements have been around for years.

I ask this in every thread when it's brought up and almost never get a real answer. Are there any examples of drinks with a flavorless (or very mild) option, that don't focus on imbalanced amounts of protein and body-building?

I like Soylent because it's relatively cheap (if I was just going for cost effectiveness, nothing beats bulk-buying beans and rice), I don't get sick of the taste after having it 3 times in a row, and it has a good balance of micro/macro nutrients.

I'd gladly save money by buying a cheaper competitor. Or even just support a less popular brand that's comparatively priced. But they all either have imbalanced amounts of protein that make me feel sick eating 3+ a day, or only come in "double chocolate shake" flavors which also feel disgusting after having more than one in a day.

The only comparable products I've found are Huel [0], but they don't offer shipping to the USA.

[0] https://huel.com/

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#72

Post by st3v3r »

darawk wrote: post #69
glenda wrote: post #4

Sounds like they have a bug in their "food stack" and this modification is like printf debugging - if no one gets sick then it was the algae, otherwise they will need to continue poking around to figure out what's wrong. What a silly game to play when people's health is at stake.

You can say the same thing about the food in any restaurant. I really don't understand the hate that's directed towards this product. Nobody was seriously injured, it was a relatively small number of people that got sick. Soylent is trying to do something more ambitious than other packaged food manufacturers. It's not unreasonable to expect there to be some small hiccups. If you can't tolerate that, then don't buy it…

"Soylent is trying to do something more ambitious than other packaged food manufacturers"

No, they aren't. There is nothing special about what they're trying to do compared to any other packaged food manufacturer. That's why they shouldn't be cut any more slack than any other manufacturer.

"It's not unreasonable to expect there to be some small hiccups."

It entirely is. If this happened to Twinkies, people would be livid. I see no reason that shouldn't be the same response here.

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#73

Post by homulilly »

munificent wrote: post #51
homulilly wrote: post #10

someone should inform the author of this article that algae aren't plants

The author does not say all algae are plants. She says the algae used to make algal flour are plants . As far as I can tell, she is correct. AlgaVia uses "microalgae", which, according to Wikipedia[1] are plants. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphyte

Perhaps it's been changed since you posted this link but I see nothing about microalgae being plants.

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#74

Post by binarymax »

mstodd wrote: post #66
binarymax wrote: post #7

Where is the FDA in all of this? I would hope that after the widespread issues with the product, they would have stepped in and blocked shipment until safety studies have been done that comply with regulations.

They're busy regulating life saving drugs. If we got rid of the FDA all together, there would be more competition for products like this, and companies would need to win the trust of consumers by providing real health study information.

The argument about drugs is a strawman. Yes there is a 'D' in FDA, but there is also an 'F'. You are also making a false assumption that consumers know what's good for them and what to intake or avoid based on "real health study information" - and this is why the FDA exists in the first place. If there are issues with it performing, that doesn't mean tear it down (that would be a disaster).

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#75

Post by MorePowerToYou »

jostmey wrote: post #9

Soylent better be sure that they are right. They just fingered the problem onto another company (TerraVia). What supplier would work with Soylent if it turns out Soylent is wrong?

Companies that mess up always fix things the first time. Just like Samsung fixed the Note 7 first try. It's not like replacement Note 7s were catching on fire on airplanes or anything... oh wait /s

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#76

Post by untog »

harveywi wrote: post #58
maxerickson wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are surprised people downvoted you stating that it will become a moral imperative to eat food in sludge form? Note that I'm not talking about the crickets at all there, I'm talking about eating a thick nutrient shake as a major source of calories.

> food in sludge form Hardly. People tend to enjoy Soylent. Even some troops prefer to use Soylent rather than eat MREs.

That doesn't dispute it being sludge. And if you think the general population is ready to eat Soylent on a day-to-day basis you are very mistaken.

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#77

Post by st3v3r »

mstodd wrote: post #66
binarymax wrote: post #7

Where is the FDA in all of this? I would hope that after the widespread issues with the product, they would have stepped in and blocked shipment until safety studies have been done that comply with regulations.

They're busy regulating life saving drugs. If we got rid of the FDA all together, there would be more competition for products like this, and companies would need to win the trust of consumers by providing real health study information.

That is quite possibly the most short-sighted response to this topic. Few would read it, and no company would offer any kind of information that is actually conclusive.

Expecting the free market to do anything except optimize for profit is silly. And yes, that is profit at the expense of people's health.

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#78

Post by st3v3r »

the8472 wrote: post #55
briHass wrote: post #38

Part of the issue is their desire to keep the product vegan. Instead of using known-safe, health-promoting sources of polyunsaturated (O3/O6) fats like fish oil, they use algal sources, which have very little data supporting them as safe/effective sources of O3.

> Which have very little data supporting them as safe/effective sources of O3. Someone has to be the first to gather the data.

That shouldn't be paying customers.

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#79

Post by Blaaguuu »

dkersten wrote: post #54
XorNot wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can also eat small amounts of poison and become immune. Everything will be damage in large quantities. And some common things probably do long term damage (e.g. any amount of charring on meat) but we never question them.

That's not the point I was tying to make. My point was that he created the formula through trial and error (I distinctly remember he said he'd put whatever amount he read online was correct and then if he felt sick he'd adjust the amount down; but "getting sick" is a rather extreme indicator). That is, at least prior to investment money (which I hope was at least partially spent on testing the stuff for safety), his…

It's not a subject that I have done a ton of reading on, but from the many random articles that I have read over the years, it really seems like the bulk of nutritional science is still pretty much trial and error... Hence the new studies that seem to come out ever other month saying that eggs are good/bad for you... or coffee... or soy... or algae... or multi-vitamins... or gluten... or berries...

For something that affects us so deeply, it seems like we still know remarkably little about how food affects our bodies/minds. Any research that the Soylent folks do or read is helpful, but I wouldn't expect them to do a 5 year study and be able to suddenly say without a doubt that they have a the perfect formula.

Re: Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae

#80

Post by [deleted] »

DINKDINK wrote: post #33
glenda wrote: post #4

Sounds like they have a bug in their "food stack" and this modification is like printf debugging - if no one gets sick then it was the algae, otherwise they will need to continue poking around to figure out what's wrong. What a silly game to play when people's health is at stake.

> if no one gets sick then it was the algae, otherwise they will need to continue poking around to figure out what's wrong. Chemistry and biology doesn't work like this. This is excessively simplistic/reductive. Food is a concoction of elements of chemical composition (naturally and/or synthetically produced). The reaction of one chemicals is _dependent_ on all of the other chemicals present and the quantities of the…

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