Soylent Campaign • Hacker News Board

Re: Soylent Campaign

#131

Post by Duhck » Tue, May 21, 2013, 7:50 PM UTC

I truly hope this is successful, not in the sense that these guys monetize it and become millionaires, but that the world in general does need a way to supplement our diets in a more sustainable way.

What irks me though, is the lack of a true clinical trial.

This fundraising effort is for the supplement itself when it really should be for clinical trials to prove the stuff is safe and works.

Perhaps they are scared of the results, or perhaps they really believe in their product, either way this is in the wrong direction and people COULD get hurt.

Re: Soylent Campaign

#132

Post by DanBC » Tue, May 21, 2013, 7:51 PM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #47

Limited market appeal (folks who eat to live vs live to eat) and it lacks the credibility of a clinical study done under the supervision of folks who have the experience to evaluate the results. So in that way it is simply another "look, eating this probably won't kill you, at least not quickly." product. There are many of these introduced and produced every year. That said, to the extent that this guy can get tracti…

> So in that way it is simply another "look, eating this probably won't kill you, at least not quickly." product.

If that's how it was marketed most people would have much less problem with it.

But when it's claiming to regulate cholesterol and etc, well, that's just sleazy.

Re: Soylent Campaign

#133

Post by Duhck » Tue, May 21, 2013, 7:51 PM UTC

Steko wrote: post #122

ceejayoz wrote: post #13

It's a pity no one on the team has any experience in a relevant field, and the "Is it safe?" answer is absurd. You could say the same thing to deem cigarettes safe.

Zero food scientists on staff but hey they have a COO, VP of Business Development/Sales and a CTO who does the website.

By "does the website" you mean cloned https://github.com/lockitron/selfstarter and modified the copy?

Re: Soylent Campaign

#134

Post by beefman » Tue, May 21, 2013, 7:52 PM UTC

NickM wrote: post #68

This would possibly interest me, but including nootropics without listing them seems incredibly scary. It's one thing to include all the normal vitamins and minerals your body needs, but to take it a step further and include mind-altering substances seems absurd and questionably legal. Maybe by "nootropics" they just mean everyday vitamins that have been shown to benefit your brain, but that's certainly not what I th…

Nope, one of the blog posts mentioned actual nootropics. They're playing pretty fast and loose with the ingredients. If they're still experimenting (as it seems they are), they should say so.

Re: Soylent Campaign

#135

Post by marknutter » Tue, May 21, 2013, 7:52 PM UTC

gamegoblin wrote: post #83

marknutter wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the end though, it's just food. I could launch a kickstarter campaign that sold veggie shakes and claim it makes people feel healthier when they drink them and it would be no more harmful than this campaign.

I think that the difference is that Soylent aims to replace (or come close to replacing) one's entire diet.

Nowhere do they recommend that you replace every single meal with Soylent and the creator stated many times throughout his many blog posts that he continued to eat normal meals whenever he felt like eating normal meals. This is in contrast to something like the movie Fat Sick and Nearly Dead (http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/) which actually does recommend drinking veggie shakes exclusively for every meal for 90 days.

Re: Soylent Campaign

#136

Post by mdisraeli » Tue, May 21, 2013, 7:52 PM UTC

I believe that Soylent uses Whey protein, because of common allergies to Soy protein... which is amusing, since an intolerance to milk protein runs in my family, and appears to be quite common too.

In fact, an extremely common request of clinical nutritionists is for a non-diary product, especially for ones aimed at children.

I strongly urge Soylent to try and gain the help of someone with experience within the established industry and get their assistance. Whilst us hackers might be happy to take the risk at this stage, someone with industry experience and knowledge of product development and production would bring invaluable skill. Plus, they'd be best placed to answer any questions about FDA issues, etc

Disclaimer: I have a family member who works in this field

Re: Soylent Campaign

#137

Post by jeffasinger » Tue, May 21, 2013, 7:54 PM UTC

NickM wrote: post #68

This would possibly interest me, but including nootropics without listing them seems incredibly scary. It's one thing to include all the normal vitamins and minerals your body needs, but to take it a step further and include mind-altering substances seems absurd and questionably legal. Maybe by "nootropics" they just mean everyday vitamins that have been shown to benefit your brain, but that's certainly not what I th…

This is a blog post by the creator that has a little detail on it: http://robrhinehart.com/?p=424

Re: Soylent Campaign

#138

Post by steveklabnik » Tue, May 21, 2013, 7:54 PM UTC

Judson wrote: post #103

typicalrunt wrote: post #59

Is soylent vegan available yet? Not yet. This first run will be the regular vegetarian soylent, but it is lactose free, kosher, halal, and absent of all known allergens I believe soy is an allergy to some people. What does "absent of all known allergens" mean then?

They use a whey protein - I don't believe the formula contains soy.

Doesn't whey protein contain lactose?

Re: Soylent Campaign

#139

Post by DanBC » Tue, May 21, 2013, 7:55 PM UTC

angkec wrote: post #55

It's interesting to see everything went from supportive on soylent to very negative after they published this campaign. I wonder what has changed?

What?? Some people have been negative about soylent from the very first posts.

Re: Soylent Campaign

#140

Post by joering2 » Tue, May 21, 2013, 7:55 PM UTC

peterwwillis wrote: post #92

chasing wrote: post #65

"Soylent is perfectly balanced and optimized for your body and lifestyle, meaning it automatically puts you at an optimal weight, makes you feel full, and improves your focus and cognition." Bull-fucking-shit. This is a product made by four twenty-somethings, none of whom appears to have a background in nutrition or any kind of health studies. To trust your health to these people would be fucking stupid. Jesus. Also:…

They've got to be violating some kind of FDA rules. Like what? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_and_Drug_Administration#Fo... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_food_and_dietary_... "The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 mandated that the FDA regulate dietary supplements as foods, rather than as drugs. Therefore, dietary supplements are not subject to safety and efficacy testing and there a…

Why would Y-combinator alumni have to comply with any government imposed rules? I hate to sound like a broken record but check my comments or history of PG companies he founded. AirBnB co-founders were or still are on FBI top spammer list that used tax money to spam people to high heaven.

As of the product, I join vast majority that says stay away. My personal thing is that after reading one of their interview where they were inviting people to clinical study, I send them long detailed email covering my willingness to participate and even pay all the cost from my own pocket. My email got ignored and I never got response. For that reason alone, I would stay away from something you have to pay for, because their customer support sucks from the get go.