[oneJob]

That idea that a selection of vitamins and minerals, et al. can replace traditional food has largely been debunked, for the current state of the art at least. Perhaps in the future, but based on our current knowledge base we can not yet replace traditional food with synthesized pills and powder for the majority of one's natural life. We still do not know all of the nutritional elements of some of the most basic fruits we pick up every day in our grocery store. If you don't believe me (I wouldn't, who am I?) check out the book below. The author has been in the field for decades, well published, studied both reductionist and wholistic approaches to nutrition.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/t-colin-campbell/whole-book-ex...

[ajmurmann]

I think the debate around Soylent really suffers from disagreement of what users of Soylent use it for, what others think it is being used for out should be used for and what it is advertised as. I think it's foolish to believe that Soylent will provide a very healthy diet just I its own. As you point out we know way to little about what the body needs. That's why no one I know who uses Soylent eats it exclusively. Unfortunately that's not what is advertised as. If you see it as an alternative to a rushed meal that comes from a fast food chain and our prematr from the freezer in the grocery store, Soylent is the better choice. I eat/drink Soylent for breakfast add weekday lunches. For dinner I usually have streamed vegetables and done lean meat with done fresh fruit later in the evening. I think together that probably makes for a much better diet than most people have. Yes, it could be improved by replacing the Soylent with a more traditional, but healthy meal, but the effort I'm willing to invest I breakfast and weekday lunches prevents that as far as I can see. Especially at the price point that Soylent comes at. I'm certain that most Soylent users see Soylent as a replacement for a crappy sandwich or burger with a side of potato chips and not as a replacement for a wholesome meal.

[oneJob]

Unfortunately Soylent does not market it as such. If they did, I'd be inclined to agree with you. However, on Soylent's website you can find the following:

"Soylent is a food product (classified as a food, not a supplement, by the FDA) designed for use as a staple meal by all adults." -https://www.soylent.com/about/

"Soylent is designed as a simple staple food, and people incorporate it into their lives to varying degrees. Some people use it almost exclusively, while others use it 2-3 times per week. There is no right or wrong amount of Soylent to eat - the whole idea is to find a balance that works for you." -https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/201273045-How-do-I...

"Our goal at Soylent is to engineer nutritionally-complete food products that are optimized for modern consumers' lifestyles and budgets. Above all, we want to make healthy nutrition easily attainable." -https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/203709619-Soylent-...

So by using terms or phrases such as 'complete', 'almost exclusively', and 'staple', and going so far as to remark that it is classified by the FDA as a 'food' and not a 'supplement', Soylent is explicitly marketing their product as a primary or complete food and nutrition source.

Their words. Not mine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staple_food

[Karunamon]

It sounds like the FDA classified it for them.

Given:

- The FDA considers it a food

- Soylent considers it a food

- Soylent users are on record as consuming mostly or all the product for their primary complete food source..

- ..over long periods of time, including the founder, who supposedly lives on the stuff.

- Of those users, most are reporting positive results...

- ..and the negative results are generally of the classes "don't like the taste" / "gave me bad gas"

..then I'm left to conclude that it is a food, and a pretty good one at that.