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[10ebbor10]

Food:
Seeds + Fertilizer / Compost / Topsoil + Sunlight = Food

Pure Maltodextrin:
Corn + Chemical Fertilizer (degraded soil) + Pesticides (to protect the monoculture from attracting pests) + Fossil Fuels (planting and harvesting) + Fossil Fuels (transporting to storage) + Fossil Fuels (tranporting to processing plant) + Fossil Fuels (processing into desired nutrient components) + Fossil Fuels (transporting to distributer / retailer) = Maltodextrin, processed food additive / nutrient slurry component.

Just as a note, but number 1 seems very unlikely to happen. In fact, quite a lot of products use processed malto stuff anyway, and the supply chain for normal food 'll use about the same amount of fossil fuels.

However, maltodextrin is as far as I know, just used an energy carrier, and can for example be replaced by GMO algae based sugars. (WIP)

[DrPoo]

The danger of a diet like this is there are probably other nutrients in food that the body requires that we haven't discovered yet, so if you do try a diet like this, eat a meal of real food occasionally so you don't die.

I for one enjoy eating and cooking, so I don't really see the appeal.

!!FOR!! !!SCIENCE!!

[10ebbor10]

Another danger is that the human digestory system has evolved for solidy foods, not food slurry. Meaning that it might cause some problems on the long term that have nothing to do with the incoming nutrients, but with fiber shortages and such.

[Loud Whispers]

Another danger is that the human digestory system has evolved for solidy foods, not food slurry. Meaning that it might cause some problems on the long term that have nothing to do with the incoming nutrients, but with fiber shortages and such.

"Fibre is an important part of a healthy diet. A diet high in fibre has many health benefits. It can help prevent heart disease, diabetes, weight gain, some cancers, and it can also improve digestive health."

From the NHS, seems like it should be a part of the Soylent stuff. It'd make it more Soylent porridge than drink, but still worth it.

[lemon10]

He already thought about that, fiber is already an important part of a soylent breakfast.

[GlyphGryph]

Frumple, just as a note: Your diet sounds incredibly uhealthy. This certainly seems significantly healthier.

[Frumple]

Vitamin supplements and less than three meals a day, yeah. It's certainly not good, though, no, and I'm aware of that -- most of the reason it is like it is is 'cause I just can't seem to manage to stomach a lot of the healthier stuff, though I try off and on. That said, it hasn't killed me quite yet and I've be doing basically the same thing for about seven or eight years, now. Weight's been stable, don't get sick often, doctor visits that occur have been overall positive. Long term's probably going to have a bit of trouble, but it's honestly healthier than a lot of people I know eat ('course, I'm a mostly rural southerner so that may not be saying much), and many of them are up in their seventies and eighties now and doing alright.

I wouldn't recommend my diet for most folks, no. But again, it's more an example than anything else. I eyeball prices on a lot of stuff I don't personally eat, and you can get something with a much better spread for roughly the same price, especially if you're buying in bulk and whatnot. Most of my contention was with the price being mentioned as cheap than anything related to health (The number crunched $5/meal is something like double or better what I've been operating at, and 150-ish for a month is about $70-80 more than I usually spend -- and I'm not actually crunching down and getting it as low as I can go.). I'd have to see some price per unit to be able to say if you can manage the same nutrient intake for less, at least in the area I'm in. But, as mentioned, I'm somewhat dubious. Vitamin supplements are incredible cheap (on a per-day basis, anyway) from what I've seen, and using those to fill in nutrient gaps seems like it might be more economical from a cost perspective, at least in the area I'm in (And, as mentioned, a cursory look in a larger city was only showing a 50-100% increase in price, which would still likely fall below the slurry's price point).

[frostshotgg]

What soylent basically is, as far as I can tell, is one big vitamin.

[SalmonGod]

Have you actually looked at the list of stuff that he makes sure to include in soylent?  It's a lot more than what's in any multivitamin.  Most of your super-cheap foods are just filler with very little nutritional value.  You'd have to take a wide variety of multivitamins to cover all the same ground, and probably still have gaps.

[Frumple]

What soylent basically is, as far as I can tell, is one big vitamin.

Plus some protein/fat/carbs, which may be cheaper to get a hold of unprocessed. Which would still leave the rest of the stuff being a good idea, yeah.

Have you actually looked at the list of stuff that he makes sure to include in soylent?  It's a lot more than what's in any multivitamin.  Most of your super-cheap foods are just filler with very little nutritional value.  You'd have to take a wide variety of multivitamins to cover all the same ground, and probably still have gaps.

Yeah... I just checked the list versus the multivitamin I'm currently taking (which is actually not the one I normally default to, as someone else picked it up, but eh). and everything that's on the essentials list (barring the stuff mentioned above that's normally in food) is in 'em. The extras would require getting a few extra things, though, yeah.

[SalmonGod]

There is a two month update.

Looks like this is going to be a real thing, so long as the guy stays motivated to work at it.  It's all on him right now, and on the major food/medical corporations not to step in and sabotage it.

[Grakelin]

This reminds me of the Body of Vi scam.

Who wants to be under me in the pyramid?

[Frumple]

Update seems interesting. Good to hear kinks being worked out.

What was Body of Vi, Grak?

[quinnr]

This is actually super awesome, and I hope it blows up in a big way. He says that he intends to put it in the public domain (with disclaimers) as well, and has no intent to patent it. Pretty awesome!

[Lectorog]

I like how he overdoses to find out what chemical balances are good.