Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Soylent International

blog.soylent.me

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 91 posts

Re: Soylent International

#81

Post by wcfields »

jgrahamc wrote: post #4

I'd be interested in seeing a comparison of Soylent against Ensure Complete. They seem to be very similar in intent: http://ensure.com/products/ensure-complete-shakes and based on the nutrition information for Ensure Complete from that page and the rough description of Soylent ( http://robrhinehart.com/?p=424 ) I do not see a major difference. It would appear that to get the same nutrients as Soylent I would need to…

My father, whom after having some terrible lymph-node cancer about 15 years ago, finally couldn't eat. Due to scar tissue he was breathing in more food than he was eating so now he taking what is more close to Soylent called Jevity through a stomach tube.

http://www.abbottstore.com/therapeutic-nutrition/jevity+reg/...

Comes in many varieties of being calorie dense, and can work out to almost 50 cents a day at 1200 cal diet.

Re: Soylent International

#82

Post by DanBC »

kefs wrote: post #53
jjoonathan wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, here's a source for that (they use it in Guantanamo): http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/29/3370916/more-navy-medi...

I wonder how the creator of Ensure (or Soylent) would feel knowing that they're products were being used in this way..

The creator of Ensure know that the products are used for force-feeding. It happens with anorexics all the time.

EDIT: But kefs makes a good point; you think you're making food and then you find out it's being used for something that you strongly disagree with. what do you do? Take the money? Or don't sell to certain markets?

Re: Soylent International

#83

Post by DanBC »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #29
tokenadult wrote: post #20

This is perhaps the worst example of people who learn their science and medicine from reading Reddit that I have yet seen in the Hacker News community. It illustrates the fallibility of human nature behind every new business scheme, and shows that a business doesn't have to be a big, multinational publicly traded corporation to engage in business with little regard for customer safety or public benefit. AFTER EDIT: I…

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that you don't actually know where this guy learned his science and medicine. Let people experiment on themselves. IMO there are enough humans that if a few get slightly ill from this, it is worth it for the chance that it does work (which seems significant given the experimentation he did on himself, the presence of similar, competing products, etc.).

They're not selling it as an untested, risky, experiment.

They're selling it as tested, as safe, as suitable for anyone, and as something that will put you in optimum health. It's sleazy and scummy.

Re: Soylent International

#84

Post by DanBC »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #72
chasing wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rob Rhinehart's bio starts: "Rob is a Y Combinator alumnus with professional experience in electrical engineering, computer science and entrepreneurship." If he had some powerful degree in nutrition or a medical degree, it would be mentioned in this sentence. It's not. He doesn't. And he's not experimenting on himself. He's selling a product that he's advertising as a food replacement with all sorts of health benefit…

The person I'm responding to claimed that he learned the science from Reddit. I am not claiming he learned it in medical school. I'm claiming that there's no evidence he got it from Reddit. > As far as "it's cool if a few people get sick..." Are you insane? They know what they are getting themselves into. I don't have any problem with people who choose to binge drink or the alcohol manufacturers that sell that produc…

> and they'd have to go out of their way to not know with this product

Can you show me where "experimental" is used on the crowd-funding page? (https://campaign.soylent.me/soylent-free-your-body)

Re: Soylent International

#85

Post by DanBC »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #73
jljljl wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the reasons we have consumer protection laws and the FDA is so that people _don't_ have to experiment on themselves in order to verify the more extravagant claims made by products. People should have a reasonable expectation that when they buy a product, it will work as expected and as advertised. And they should have recourse if this turns out not to be the case.

I'd totally have a problem with this if it were being advertised as a highly tested, rock solid product rather than a nutritional experiment. Since that's not the case, I'm fine with it.

From the crowd funding page:

> For anyone who struggles with allergies, heartburn, acid reflux or digestion, has trouble controlling weight or cholesterol, or simply doesn't have the means to eat well, soylent is for you.

> Soylent frees you from the time and money spent shopping, cooking and cleaning, puts you in excellent health,

> By taking years to spoil

> The founders and scores of DIYers have been living on Soylent for months and there is much evidence that is considerably healthier than a typical diet.

There's no mention on the crowd-funding page that this is an experiment.

I tend to agree with you - people can do what they like with their bodies and this product would fit a lot better if it was sold as an experiment, with access to discussion forums and etc.

I notice they now have a disclaimer on that page.

Re: Soylent International

#86

Post by jljljl »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #73
jljljl wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the reasons we have consumer protection laws and the FDA is so that people _don't_ have to experiment on themselves in order to verify the more extravagant claims made by products. People should have a reasonable expectation that when they buy a product, it will work as expected and as advertised. And they should have recourse if this turns out not to be the case.

I'd totally have a problem with this if it were being advertised as a highly tested, rock solid product rather than a nutritional experiment. Since that's not the case, I'm fine with it.

I think we are more aware of the product's experimental nature due to having read and discussed his blogs. I'm not sure that reading the sales page discloses this as much.

It definitely doesn't look like an experiment. There is no data collection, no controls, no clear or explicit warning that the product is untested.

Re: Soylent International

#87

Post by tokenadult »

tokenadult wrote: post #18
scott_karana wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking at Ensure, I don't get the impression that you're supposed to be able to live entirely on it. It looks more like a meal substitute (liquid nutrition bar) than a food substitute.

People who have to live for years with a gastric tube rather than chewing their food to eat it (for example, some quadriplegics, like my late dad for the last six years of his life) life largely on Ensure or one of the very similar products from competing companies. Liquid nutrition products are very time-tested products, into which many hours of clinical observation and laboratory experiments have been devoted.

Here's a link about tube feeding from the medical point of view:

http://www.nutritioncare.org/wcontent.aspx?id=266

Re: Soylent International

#88

Post by ChikkaChiChi »

ctdonath wrote: post #51
ChikkaChiChi wrote: post #22

I was interested when it was one guy on a mission for himself. I've become less so now that its clear he wanted to go worldwide with this as soon as possible. I do not wish the project ill will, but I won't be signing on at this time unless things (re: testing) get a lot more transparent.

When huge numbers of people take intense interest in your hobby and keep shouting "shut up and take my money!", to the tune of millions of dollars, it kinda motivates you to go worldwide with it as soon as possible. You know, what ycombinator is all about.

I never thought about it that way...

Re: Soylent International

#89

Post by ndr »

jgrahamc wrote: post #4

I'd be interested in seeing a comparison of Soylent against Ensure Complete. They seem to be very similar in intent: http://ensure.com/products/ensure-complete-shakes and based on the nutrition information for Ensure Complete from that page and the rough description of Soylent ( http://robrhinehart.com/?p=424 ) I do not see a major difference. It would appear that to get the same nutrients as Soylent I would need to…

You're not the first one to wonder about that: http://discourse.soylent.me/t/soylent-mentioned-on-the-skept...

I'd be interested as well.

Re: Soylent International

#90

Post by mdisraeli »

I've checked with someone in the industry[1], and yes, Soylent would be required to be regulated by the FDA and the like.

[1] Conflict of interest, as they work for a potential competitor in the market. However they come from a medical background, and put patient health first. Surprising exactly how important nutrition is, actually!

Post reply on HN