
Soylent reaches $1M in pre-orders - rogerfernandezg
http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/01/soylent-1m-preorders/
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jluxenberg
I don't understand why I should trust a food product produced by a team[1]
that has NO EXPERIENCE WHATSOEVER with nutritional science. And someone please
explain why a dietary supplement needs a CTO?

[1] "The Team" section of this page [https://campaign.soylent.me/soylent-free-
your-body](https://campaign.soylent.me/soylent-free-your-body)

~~~
regis
People eat things like Pop-Tarts, Skittles, Grape Soda and other "food
products" like that without researching the team behind them. Does it really
matter what the team members' positions are?

I would trust a company like Soylent over General Mills until I have reason to
believe otherwise.

edit: By the way General Mills also has a CTO:
[http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sue-
simonett/5a/829/8a](http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sue-simonett/5a/829/8a)

~~~
rosser
Because Pop-Tarts and Skittles aren't being sold as a _food replacement_. I
don't know about you, but I'm going to hold someone making a "snack" to a much
lower standard than someone selling a product marketed with, "Here, you can
use this _instead of eating_."

~~~
regis
Yeah, that's sort of true... but I think people do see these snacks as real
food. Pop-tarts are marketed as a breakfast food - this makes it seem as
though you could eat pop-tarts in the morning before you start your day
instead of a fruit salad or something more "time-tested"

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dangrossman
I love the idea of Soylent, but I'm super wary of the risks. The wrong
ingredient mix here could have significant impacts 10+ years down the line.
The past 20 years of science is starting to show some very strong evidence
that too many antioxidants prevent cancer cells that otherwise wouldn't
proliferate from dying, and too much of many types of vitamins and nutrients
feeds tumorigenesis -- leading to faster-growing and more aggressive cancers.

For references, look up the SELECT trial (vitamin E and omega-3 supplements
significantly increased prostate cancer rates), the ATBC trial (beta-carotene,
an antioxidant, significantly increased lung cancer rates), the CARET trial
(Vitamin A and beta-carotene significantly increased lung cancer rates), the
Cochrane Database trials reviews in 2004 (vitamin A, C, E and selenium
supplements increased intestinal cancer mortality)...

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dwaltrip
It's almost a guarantee that Soylent will eventually found to be lacking or
harmful in numerous significant ways, compared to what is provided by a varied
and not-pre-processed diet (greens, veggies, fruits, diverse healthy fats &
complete proteins, nuts, fish, poultry, etc). I would bet a fair amount of
money on it.

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repiret
> who helped him find an factory in Modesto certified by the National Science
> Foundation.

Its much more likely they found a factory in Modesto certified by NSF
International, which is in the business of certifying food safety stuff, than
the National Science Foundation, which is in the business of giving research
grants.

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martythemaniak
I love the idea of Soylent and I think it'll be a big success. One thing I'd
love to see is a protein-fat-carb customizable version. That is, one person
who is building muscle should be able to get soylent that's 40-20-40, while
someone doing a keto diet should be able to get a 30-60-10.

Also, I didn't know they were the LevelRF guys. If any of the founders are
reading, care to share why that startup didn't work out?

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banachtarski
As a person who lifts weights frequently, I'm not sure I like the idea of soy
based protein in general though.

~~~
korethr
This statement piques my curiosity. Why not?

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lsc
'bro science' \- apparently there's chemicals in soy that have similar names
to estrogen. A bunch of people claim that's why Asians are 'less manly' or
something. I've not seen any credible evidence that this is any more
scientific than 'neuro linguistic programming' (or the idea that the average
asian dude is 'less manly' for that matter.)

On a more personal note, I'm a big white guy who looks like a big white guy
who was raised on more soy than your average Asian dude (hippy parents.) I
call bullshit.

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oacgnol
Your being a big white guy visibly unaffected by soy is strictly anecdotal
evidence - perhaps you aren't affected by it.

The plain reality here is that we don't yet know the full effects of a diet
high in soy has on the body, so I'd err on the side of letting studies come
out with something more conclusive. In any case, shouldn't we be consuming
within moderation anyways?

~~~
lsc
>The plain reality here is that we don't yet know the full effects of a diet
high in soy has on the body

you could replace the word 'soy' with 'meat' or 'eggs' or 'bread' there and
the sentence would be equally true, and equally useless.

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MrJagil
I honestly believe this is going to be a huge success (with the right
marketing). It seems to be a snake-oil-wonder-tonic that actually isn't. It's
astonishing how non-obvious it apparently is to a lot of companies that making
a _good_ product is a good way to build a company.

McDonalds etcetara jumps through countless marketing hoops to assure everyone
their products are healthy, instead of just making something that is actually
healthy. I mean, they must know what this 24-year-old knows. There's no secret
to Soylents apparent succes but good dietary research.

Maybe my pondering will be answered once Soylent starts adding lots of fat,
sugar and strawberry flavours to save some nickles. McDonalds probably started
out with good intentions as well.

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geoka9
> There's no secret to Soylents apparent succes but good dietary research.

There wasn't any good dietary research. All we saw is a series of amateurish
blog posts by a guy who seems to have nothing but ambitions in the way of
credibility.

~~~
MrJagil
Who cares. I mean, despite this not being software, "ship early and iterate"
still applies. They've now hired 5 professionals to help them out.

In any case, whenever something related to diet comes up on HN, it seems like
no one really knows anything anyway. If nothing else, this project is
interesting because of him putting his own body on the line, for a litmus test
on current health recommendations.

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perlpimp
I consider myself somewhat advanced in cooking and nutrition and I can tell
you that much that powderized foods lack certain elements that make for a
healthy nutrition. There are certain macro structures that do disappear from
food when it has been processed in variety of ways.

Also there is was an article about some scientist who has been promoting
megadosing on vitamin C caps and there are studies that point to consumption
of synthetic vitamins as being one of reasons people develop cancer. After in
veggies viamin C comes in a variety of combinations and as they are absorbed
there are different supporting nutrients that enable higher absorption.

What has been noted too that people that partake food in a social and positive
environment digest it much better then those that just consume it and get on
with their day.

I have trouble seeing usefulness of this product for wide spectrum of uses.
However if it is a somewhat full meal-ish kind of product if I have little
time, for example on my way to an interview and hunger - that would be the
killer application for me of said product.

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tvladeck
> He’s more of a believer that we don’t really think about or even consciously
> care about the vast majority of our meals.

I'm busy. I'm not a good cook. I'm even worse at "keeping a kitchen". I rarely
have food around. I want to make food a priority, but it loses against my
startup, bouldering, and photography.

I often find myself in scenarios where I /need/ to eat, but have no food.
Getting burritos and making pasta gets old. I /love/ eating good food, but for
a number of meals, something that takes the thinking out of it would be good
for me.

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fivethree
Only an engineer could think it's a good idea to remove the experience of
eating.

~~~
WestCoastJustin
You need to look at the bigger picture ( _disclaimer: I do not agree /disagree
with what Soylent is/does_). Imagine if something like this actually worked,
you could feed many people cheaply. Not everyone has the luxury of enjoying
their eating experience.

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gclaramunt
> Imagine if something like this actually worked

What about military rations? Ensure? The stuff they feed the people doing
hunger strike in Guantanamo? There's plenty of "prior art"

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kashnikov
Hope they get good liability insurance.

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ubercore
Could anyone actually (successfully) hold them liable? I'd think it would be
their suppliers that would need liability insurance, since they're just
repackaging already-approved food items.

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gamblor956
Yes, it's basic tort law. They're not just repacking food items, they're
combining them in a non-reversible manner. This essentially makes them the
manufacturer. Consequently, they will have opened themselves up to liability
for _every_ ingredient they use. (But they may be able to go after a supplier
for indemnification depending on the circumstances.

~~~
ubercore
Thanks for the clarification! That makes now that I think about it more. I was
thinking more along the lines of product manufacturing, which I think is less
stringent (honestly I may be wrong there too).

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moocowduckquack
It would be interesting to see how well it compares against the existing full
meal drinks that hospitals use for people who are having problems with solid
food.

~~~
spyder
Yea, I'm not sure how can they compete with other "research-based
scientifically-proven nutrition" products for example from the healthcare
division of Danone: [http://www.nutricia.com/our-products/nutrition-for-
elderly/f...](http://www.nutricia.com/our-products/nutrition-for-
elderly/fortimel/products) Probably the story will sell the Soylent and not
the product itself.

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satellitecat
I think having just 1 final formula will be a mistake. Different people have
different needs. I remember reading somewhere on his site that women testers
complained of hunger, for example. Activity levels and age may cause different
needs as well.

It's a bit of this TED talk about having alternative recipes because there's
rarely one ultimate recipe that everyone likes. Some people like smooth peanut
butter, others like crunchy, etc.
[http://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce...](http://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html)

~~~
silencio
It worried me to read that most of the customers are men (young at that too,
along with all the founders), since the other half of the population of Earth
have differing nutritional needs. I'm kind of afraid that not enough testers
are women or from different walks of life than your average hacker, too.

I used to be iron deficiency anemic for the longest time and general
multivitamins didn't even come close to addressing the iron deficiency. It's
no longer a problem but I still tend to buy products like vitamins only for
women now as a result.

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ChikkaChiChi
Regardless of your opinion of 'should they' or 'shouldn't they' regarding
Soylent, there is no doubting the disruptive nature of the project.

At least there seems to be some transparency in the discussion and the
results. That's a lot more than can be said about some of the bullshit claims
about how things are 'good for us' because the peddler in question lacks
enough morals to broadcast falsehoods.

Allow me to post a link to a website based on humor that recently talked about
the problem: [http://www.cracked.com/article_19485_5-outrageous-lies-
compa...](http://www.cracked.com/article_19485_5-outrageous-lies-companies-
are-legally-allowed-to-tell-you.html)

Those of you that like eating, nobody is trying to take your fork away. Those
of us that would like the option of popping a food pill that eliminates what
we consider a hassle, this takes us one step closer.

Or maybe this is the next big Fanboi war: Apples versus PC (Personal
Concoctions).

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taopao
Watch for their pivot when they find out they're giving everybody scurvy!

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bananajoe
why not just eat a banana?

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joemaller1
tastes like cancer.

~~~
AsymetricCom
needs more aromatic compounds and conditioners.

