Will Food Become Obsolete?

We live in a world where there are advancements in everything from technology and design to food and sciences, the human race is seemingly always trying to innovate and make tasks easier and less taxing on the environment (for the most part). Has it gone too far that there is now a market for meal replacements? In walks the new kid on the block, Soylent.

What is Soylent you might ask? Soylent is a meal replacement claiming to contain all of the key nutrients an adult human needs to survive. Out of the ingredient list the top ingredients include oils such as canola and sunflower, maltodextrin, modified food starch and rice protein, following such ingredients are many “essential” vitamins and minerals. These are how the ingredients stand as of now, but in past versions of Soylent the ingredients were not the same. Why is this? Is the company noticing that people are seeing through their scheme or are they merely innovating?

Let’s break down some of the main ingredients in the most recent version of Soylent:

Canola Oil: Made from the Rapeseed, the oil produced by the Rapeseed is much more suited for an industrial oil rather than an oil used for food due to it’s make up.  The reason we are able to ingest Canola Oil is because it’s genetically modified (GMO) rapeseed oil. Canola oil is also partially hydrogenated oil which means that canola oil can contain many trans fats that should be avoided for health reasons. The use of GMO foods can have a radical impact on a person’s health effecting not only the kidneys, but the liver and causing higher risks of cancer as well as stunting growth. 

Maltodextrin: Maltodextrin is a food additive most popularly used in sodas and approved by the FDA. Being a part of the carbohydrate family, Maltodextrin can have a drastic effect on blood sugar causing it to be raised and if someone ingests too much of it they are at risk for bacterial infections that include e.coli and salmonella, it a known suppressant of the good bacterias in the digestive system.

The Vitamins: Soylent has been and is still using poor versions of vitamins in their products. The main example being the use of vitamin D2 which doesn’t convert well into vitamin D. So in short by drinking Soylent you aren’t really gaining the best effects from Vitamin D that you can and that your body wants. For improved efficiency using vitamin D3 would create a better conversion to Vitamin D.

There have been mixed reviews on the topic of Soylent, the experiences of some people show drastic health improvements, others show stagnancy or tiredness. This is where we ask is the risk worth the reward? The Soylent website does outwardly say that they are a GMO product, but why should we chose to put genetically modified products into our system? We explored the risks of some of the ingredients found within Soylent, but in order to get a true feel for the effects of Soylent we’ll take a look at some experiences tracked through personal blogs.

A young man named Shane Snow had a quiet positive experience with Soylent and medical tests prove it. Not only did Shane loss weight on his journey, his mental alertness times improved and his cholesterol lowered. Shane documented his experience saying that “it appears that a Soylent diet contains more nutrition than my typical diet, and that I was able to absorb said nutrition sufficiently well.” and  “Shockingly, so, I might add, because I expected to be miserable the whole time and was in fact quite happy. Beyond the time savings (and not having to think about food much), I was struck by how much easier it was to stick to a diet as simple as Soylent versus any other diet I’ve tried.”

While Shane seems to endorse the new fad food, a woman named Katie Park had a different experience having trouble lasting on Soylent alone for more than a couple days; noting that she felt weak and hungry. Food became something that haunted her, “Mentally, I was bludgeoned with thoughts that distracted me all day despite my best attempts to resist them.

Soylent is most definitely still a work in progress and it is almost eminent that the formula will change and evolve as the company works to make their product better. Soylent may be the food of the future, but as for now it’s a much better idea to focus on a healthy diet consisting of actual foods. There are many risks that can come with using Soylent religiously because it’s make up, it’s not fool proof. So while Soylent develops and prepares itself for a future where resources are scarce, I will be enjoying real food in the mean time. 

Short Documentary in which CEO of Soylent Rob Rhinehar lived off of his invention for 30 days.

2 thoughts on “Will Food Become Obsolete?

  1. Shirneil Merisier

    My mom is a respiratory therapist and I remember going to her job and seeing patients on a feeding tube. I believe that the food they were given were similar to soy lent. Basically a liquid form of all the nutrients you need to survive. A picture of the feeding bag here to go to link

  2. Shannon G Mcclain

    I found this to be really interesting! I have never heard of this product so I enjoyed reading your thorough analysis of it’s contents as well as your descriptions of those who have tried it. I agree that food sciences are changing and evolving, but I don’t think we could ever go without some form of solid food, at least in our lifetime. So I’m with you, I’ll stick to my real meals.

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