This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again • Hacker News Board

Re: This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again

#231

Post by Shorel » Wed, Mar 13, 2013, 9:27 PM UTC

papsosouid wrote: post #219

Shorel wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is possible that the nutrient powder (and similar) industry hasn't given much thought to this idea because its radical and potentially risky, especially as a business venture where legal liability might be very, very high. The stuff bodybuilders consume is not as well controlled as anything called 'food'. In fact, bodybuilding forums are full of 'I bought brand X and it was mostly filler, better stick to brand Y…

That's simply not true. They have to list the nutrition info the same as any other food. Protein powders that are "mostly filler" are actually ~20% filler, not mostly. And the label makes that quite clear as it both lists the ingredients so you even know what they are using as filler, but also the nutrition info. If 30g of powder is only giving you 20g of protein, obviously there's 10g of something other than protein…

My point is that the FDA doesn't rule this with the iron fist they rule over real food.

In other words, by declaring 'Soylent' as 'not food' he sidesteps lots of regulations and tests.

Re: This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again

#232

Post by MrUnderhill » Wed, Mar 13, 2013, 9:27 PM UTC

recuter wrote: post #20

I have Crohn's and as a result had periods in my life where I was on a liquid diet of something called Modulen for weeks and months at a time. http://www.nestlehealthscience.com/products/modulen_ibd A similar, more familiar product: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensure Pretty terrible experience. I had to drink close to a dozen cups of the stuff a day and it didn't go down easy. The stuff worked however and I went bac…

Thanks for this post! I too have Crohn's (and ankylosing spondylitis), but I had not heard of Modulen before. I also very much share the sentiments of the article author, so I'm a bit bummed to hear you found it to be a terrible experience.

Re: This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again

#233

Post by janezhu » Wed, Mar 13, 2013, 9:27 PM UTC

Why are people are having such a visceral reaction to this idea? Finding alternatives to solid, "fresh" food is an issue we will have address in the near future, if not right now. With forecasts about population growth rapidly rising (We said it would reach 10 billion by 2100. It only took 13 years to jump from 6-7 billion.)

This could be implemented not only for hunger in impoverished nations, but for world overpopulation and depletion of resources including livestock and agriculture.

People are commenting this guy is crazy. But in the next few decades I'd rather there was 100 crazy guys trying this for every McDonald's junkie.

Re: This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again

#234

Post by irahul » Wed, Mar 13, 2013, 9:29 PM UTC

Shorel wrote: post #143

If this guy is phony, there's no harm in reading a couple articles and laughing at it. The problem starts if he is right. We could be reading about the food of the future. Normal food will be a luxury reserved for a few.

> We could be reading about the food of the future. Normal food will be a luxury reserved for a few.

I doubt it. We have somewhat accurate idea of what's good for the body, and what's not good for the body. That "what's not" is widely in circulation. People haven't dropped their french fries for the salads; for sure they aren't going to ditch them for a monotonous diet of shakes.

Re: This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again

#235

Post by justforyoutrent » Wed, Mar 13, 2013, 9:29 PM UTC

trentlott wrote: post #138

baak wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is claiming steady McD's is healthy. There are actually people on the OP link and this thread who are posting that they want to try his system. That's what is scary. This paragraph from his blog: "I feel like the six million dollar man. My physique has noticeably improved, my skin is clearer, my teeth whiter, my hair thicker and my dandruff gone. My resting heart rate is lower, I haven't felt the least bit sic…

Being that he didn't actually tell us what was in his formula, I smell an amateur (or not-so) marketing campaign.

He actually specifies exactly what's in his formula on his blog:

http://robrhinehart.com/?p=424

He's apparently even willing to ship you a batch of his own concoction for free if you agree to try it out for a week with blood tests before and after.

Re: This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again

#236

Post by papsosouid » Wed, Mar 13, 2013, 9:30 PM UTC

I love how all the arm chair biochemists here jump on this as being so dangerous because in theory there could be something he needs and isn't getting. Yet most of them are eating a diet that is deficient in things we know you need. This guy's gross sludge is a hell of a lot healthier than what most people are eating, go bitch at them instead.

Re: This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again

#237

Post by papsosouid » Wed, Mar 13, 2013, 9:31 PM UTC

Shorel wrote: post #231

papsosouid wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's simply not true. They have to list the nutrition info the same as any other food. Protein powders that are "mostly filler" are actually ~20% filler, not mostly. And the label makes that quite clear as it both lists the ingredients so you even know what they are using as filler, but also the nutrition info. If 30g of powder is only giving you 20g of protein, obviously there's 10g of something other than protein…

My point is that the FDA doesn't rule this with the iron fist they rule over real food. In other words, by declaring 'Soylent' as 'not food' he sidesteps lots of regulations and tests.

He isn't selling it, the FDA has nothing to do with it regardless of what he calls it. And just saying something is "not food" doesn't do anything to stop it from being regulated. The FDA does regulate dietary supplements and meal replacements, exactly the same way they regulate any other food.

Re: This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again

#238

Post by Evgeny » Wed, Mar 13, 2013, 9:31 PM UTC

klipt wrote: post #193

yasth wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except this isn't new software. There is an actual answer to what this purports to be, i.e. a complete nutritional food. It is a very hard question to answer, and even if you had the absolute top minds of the industry making a food source in this manner you'd be provably messing up badly as recently as ten years ago. You'd probably be messing up today but we don't even know how at the moment. I mean look at the warni…

Yeah, it seems to me that the first problem with not giving your GI tract food is that it could make your GI tract atrophy. (His blog suggests he barely poops on this diet.) As much as I share the fantasy of perfectly balanced, easy to prepare "bachelor chow", I hope he doesn't damage himself.

I hope he doesn't damage himself

Bad as it sounds, I hope he does. That would be the equivalent of "failing fast", I guess.

Here's the worse outcome: he goes happily for some time, inspires some people to follow his lead, the group grows ... 5 or 10 years down the line - bam, they all end up with some irreparable damage to their health ...

Re: This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again

#239

Post by hirenj » Wed, Mar 13, 2013, 9:32 PM UTC

lilsunnybee wrote: post #123

criley wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sound like an industry-insider explaining why a new startup will fail. "They're too young!" "They don't have the experience" "We've devoted our LIVES to figuring this out, one kid in his basement didn't do it in a few weeks!" Etc etc No offense but we've heard the exact same thing about every successful idea. And what's more: People look at the human GI totally wrong anyway. They think, what can I put in to get t…

I doubt he's taking the manner by which nutrients are best absorbed into account. Having everything in a liquid suspension is likely not ideal, and could result in a dangerous deficiency. Just because someone can survive on something doesn't mean they're getting good nutrition. Humans have adapted to eat many types of food, but that doesn't mean everyone was equally as healthy, disease-resistant, etc.

I'd agree here – given the nature of the digestive system, and the different things that are absorbed at different points across the digestive tract, I'd say that throwing it all in, ready for the body to soak up is probably a bad idea.

Further, you don't really know what the hell you're doing to all 100 trillion of the little beasties living in your gut by drinking that stuff. We're really a very carefully balanced system for homeostasis and shortcuts rarely appreciate the subtlety and complexity of the system they are shortcutting.

Re: This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again

#240

Post by unix-dude » Wed, Mar 13, 2013, 9:33 PM UTC

Shorel wrote: post #170

unix-dude wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though I dont share quite the same level of negativity towards the idea (Personally, I think it'd be amazing to be able to give up food for something that is nutritious and safe), I definitely share your concerns. It is possible that the nutrient powder (and similar) industry hasn't given much thought to this idea because its radical and potentially risky, especially as a business venture where legal liability might…

> It is possible that the nutrient powder (and similar) industry hasn't given much thought to this idea because its radical and potentially risky, especially as a business venture where legal liability might be very, very high. The stuff bodybuilders consume is not as well controlled as anything called 'food'. In fact, bodybuilding forums are full of 'I bought brand X and it was mostly filler, better stick to brand Y…

Im not thinking about the FDA specifically here. I'm thinking about general wrongful injury (possibly death) lawsuits where someone becomes seriously ill from consuming nothing but their "magic soylentesque shake".

Marketing it as a food replacement would be very difficult because of subtle differences between people's bodies. I think they stick with supplements/protein powder because it reduces the possibility of wrongful death lawsuits (and similar) while still allowing leeway with federal regulations.