[Scoundreller]

1. Soylent doesn't seem to be entirely based on fine chemicals. When you go through their ingredients list, "fish oil", "oat flour" and "rice protein" likely contain a lot of the "(nonessential) nutrients" you fear missing out on.

I still wouldn't want to be the guinea pig to exclusively live off of Soylent.

2+3. Having said that, there is plenty of research on "Total Parenteral Nutrition" and "Enteral Nutrition" for those that cannot consume regular foods for medical reasons. It isn't exactly a solved problem however, there are still issues.

[yaketysax]

http://www.webmd.com/diet/phytonutrients-faq

"More than 25,000 phytonutrients are found in plant foods. WebMD takes a look at these six important phytonutrients -- and their potential health effects: Carotenoids, Ellagic acid, Flavonoids, Resveratrolm Glucosinolates, Phytoestrogens"

Find them in Soylent? It's cute that you put nonessential nutrients in quotes though. It's like this foreign term that only I use.