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SoylentNews is people

posted by takyon on Wednesday April 08 2015, @07:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the indie-gestion dept.

In other Soylent news, the powdered foodstuff has a new "version release":

Soylent founder Rob Rhinehart has continued to update Soylent's formula, tweaking the contents and altering the micro- and macronutrient blend in response to user feedback and also actual science and lab-work. The latest change, to "version 1.4," is the most significant since the product's launch: in addition to ditching the often leaky bottles of oil, the amount of soluble fiber has been greatly reduced, from 10g per pouch to 3.9g; the total amount of fiber has been reduced from 30g to 16g per pouch.

Other changes include reduced portion size (the pouches indicate 4 rather than 3 servings), a smoother texture, a more neutral and less dough-like flavor, and less "butt stuff." Why? "Some people's gut bacteria are not accustomed to the soluble fiber."

 
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by q.kontinuum on Wednesday April 08 2015, @09:37AM

    by q.kontinuum (532) on Wednesday April 08 2015, @09:37AM (#167770) Journal

    I don't think this "one-size-fits-all" approach is efficient; at least it shouldn't be the end of development. Different people have different nutritional needs. People doing a lot of sports might need some more proteins, people in warmer regions probably more salt (because they lose more due to sweating), etc. Also it would be good to have different brands to support different nutrition styles. E.g. I'm currently doing a ketogenic diet [wikipedia.org] and would appreciate to have shakes available to meet my needs for minerals, vitamins, the right amino acids and the right sorts of fats, without any carbohydrates.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday April 08 2015, @09:51AM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday April 08 2015, @09:51AM (#167775) Journal

    "Soylent has undergone 4 reformulations since release and dedicates space to DIY recipes created by the online community."

    The "dedicated space" seems to be broken: https://diy.soylent.me/recipes [soylent.me]
    http://discourse.soylent.me/ [soylent.me]
    http://www.reddit.com/r/soylent [reddit.com]
    Again, broken, but there are comments: http://www.reddit.com/domain/diy.soylent.me/ [reddit.com]
    http://www.reddit.com/r/soylent/wiki/diy [reddit.com]

    Soylent probably has some advantages over homemade Soylent (other than convenience) but I wouldn't know what they are.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Wednesday April 08 2015, @10:36AM

      by q.kontinuum (532) on Wednesday April 08 2015, @10:36AM (#167785) Journal

      Thanks for the links. It's a bit unfortunate that the recipe-links to diy.soylent.me don't work anymore, but at least it gave me some search terms.

      BTW: Not entirely soylent-like, but to get simple ketogenic food, following mixtures worked for me (and might be mixed in a blender as well):

      - cottage cheese (40% fat), can probably be mixed with flax-seed to help digestion, plus some herbs for taste
      - spinach with blue mould cheese (could be turned into a shake easily when adding some cream)
      - If I actually want something with more substance, self-made flax-seed crispbread: Mix crushed flax seed with hot water, add some pure cacao powder for taste. Bake in thin layers. Eat like bread, with butter and liverwurst/cheese/whatever (This enabled me to enjoy breakfast with my family)

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday April 08 2015, @10:01AM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday April 08 2015, @10:01AM (#167778) Journal

    You need carbs to live. Here's some stuff about the carbs in Soylent:

    Since launch, Soylent has tested out to a carb/fat/protein ratio of 50/30/20 (that is, half of the stuff was carbs, 30 percent was fats, and 20 percent was protein). The 1.4 version shifts that somewhat dramatically, to 43/40/17.

    "There was agreement that lowering the glycemic load and replacing the calories with fat, given our fat source is low in saturates and absent of cholesterol, would be healthier in the long run," explained Rhinehart in an e-mail exchange with Ars. "At the same time, more of our carbohydrates come from isomaltulose, which while appearing as a 'sugar’ on the label, has a lower glycemic index than the maltodextrin it replaces."

    Isomaltulose

    When reviewing Soylent 1.4’s nutrition facts panel, customers may notice what appears to be a significant spike in the labelled amount of sugar: from 6 g/pouch to 44 g/pouch.

    In fact, Soylent 1.4 actually contains less sucrose (table sugar) than previous versions: 2.7 g/pouch. How is this possible?

    The answer is isomaltulose, a new ingredient and carbohydrate source in Soylent 1.4. Isomaltulose is a derivative of sucrose, but the similarities largely end there. While sucrose is a fast-digesting carbohydrate that causes rapid and unhealthy changes in blood sugar levels, isomaltulose is a far healthier source of carbohydrates and is absorbed into the bloodstream at a much slower rate than sucrose.

    Because it is chemically similar to sucrose, the FDA requires isomaltulose to be listed as a sugar on nutrition facts labels, rather than a carbohydrate. We feel this could confuse customers, as it skews Soylent’s labelled nutritional profile and falsely causes it to appear unbalanced. Soylent’s formula has always been engineered for balanced nutrition, and version 1.4 is no different.

    Other carbohydrate changes

    We have reduced our oat flour content from 110 grams to 70 grams per pouch. This reduction allowed us to incorporate several new types of slow-digesting carbohydrates, including one potato starch and two rice starch varieties.

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    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
  • (Score: 5, Funny) by Grishnakh on Wednesday April 08 2015, @02:50PM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Wednesday April 08 2015, @02:50PM (#167860)

    Exactly; they should have several different versions of it. To make it easy to differentiate them on store shelves and for consumers to remember them, they should use different colors, calling them "Soylent Red", "Soylent Orange", "Soylent Yellow", and "Soylent Green". Soylent Green would be the most expensive and tastiest of the bunch, though it would have some secret ingredient.

    • (Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Wednesday April 08 2015, @05:23PM

      by q.kontinuum (532) on Wednesday April 08 2015, @05:23PM (#167908) Journal

      Soylent Green would be the most expensive and tastiest of the bunch, though it would have some secret ingredient.

      Could you call it vegetarian / vegan, if it doesn't have any animal-products, as such?

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      • (Score: 4, Touché) by Mr Big in the Pants on Wednesday April 08 2015, @07:26PM

        by Mr Big in the Pants (4956) on Wednesday April 08 2015, @07:26PM (#167955)

        Humans are animals. Just because we commit gen(e)ocide on millions of other species so successfully does not make us less so...

        I was going to say more but the multiple levels of disappointment your post invoked left me unable to say more.

        • (Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Wednesday April 08 2015, @08:33PM

          by q.kontinuum (532) on Wednesday April 08 2015, @08:33PM (#167977) Journal

          Are you sure you are not taking this too serious? Sticks and stones...

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          Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
          • (Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Thursday April 09 2015, @05:27AM

            by Mr Big in the Pants (4956) on Thursday April 09 2015, @05:27AM (#168190)

            I am not taking it seriously, the comment was moronic.

            Just pointing out the truth of the matter. We are animals and we do tend to think we are "above it all" even though we really aren't as a brief glance at almost any internet forum, dating site, bar or sports event will show quite clearly...

            • (Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Thursday April 09 2015, @09:56AM

              by q.kontinuum (532) on Thursday April 09 2015, @09:56AM (#168259) Journal

              We are animals and we do tend to think we are "above it all"

              The irony here is that this is, in a way, also a typical animalistic behaviour ;-) No cat would sympathize with mice, (I don't actually think they consider themselves consciously above mice, but the effect is similar.) By expecting better behaviour from humans one could say that you are the one trying to put humans above animals.

              It's also interesting to note how this indicates that "Elbonians first!" way of thinking should be considered less human and more animal as well.

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              • (Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Thursday April 09 2015, @11:50PM

                by Mr Big in the Pants (4956) on Thursday April 09 2015, @11:50PM (#168555)

                I totally agree. Extreme irony and hypocrisy are a large part of the human condition. :)

                But I also believe that we CAN rise above it with effort - even if only for a short amount of time.

                But it is not a given and requires a lot of effort.

    • (Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Wednesday April 08 2015, @05:28PM

      by q.kontinuum (532) on Wednesday April 08 2015, @05:28PM (#167912) Journal

      More serious: Actually, I was thinking about a more geeky solution: A couple of powder-boxes with different mixtures, a raspberry with a dosing-feeder and some sensors to e.g. measure your blood-suger and a web-interface to enter your weight, size, target-weight etc., and the dosing feeder mixes the right powders for your personal diet. Each of the powders can be purchased separately.

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