Soylent is Weird, But Does it Work?

I tried a day of Soylent (Photo: Soylent)

In 2013, 24-year-old coder Rob Rhinehart developed a powdered drink mix designed to meet all of the nutritional requirements for an average adult. He called it Soylent and subsisted on only the drink for 30 days, and then launched a Kickstarter campaign that made $3 million in just one month. While some people have used it for weight loss on the basis that it makes calorie information more available and controlled, Soylent is not a weight loss product. Instead, it was invented as a “staple meal” to increase productivity and save time and money. Created by a coder for his fellow coders, it aims to take away the supposed burden of food, according to its first campaign that read, “What if you never had to worry about food again?” Upon its launch it was looked at as the future of food, or even the end of food, and many still view it that way.

This past September, Soylent 2.0 launched in the form of a drink with a one-year expiration date. I’d heard about the product before the new launch and immediately hated it, deeming it something made for people who don’t appreciate food. Soylent sent a crate of version 2.0 to the Yahoo Beauty office, and my mind was certainly not changed. The blank white and virtually unmarked packaging weirded me out and contributed to my theory that taste is hardly a consideration and that Soylent was created for nothing but sustenance, thus eliminating everything great about food. After seeing countless blog posts from people who tried a week, 30 days, five months, even a year of consuming Soylent almost exclusively, I found that opinions of it go both ways but like mine, they’re consistently strong.

Despite major skepticism, I got curious about the hype. For months, the view from my desk has been clouded by an eerie bottle of Soylent in my periphery, and how could I have such strong opinions about something before trying it? So, I muzzled my contempt and gave it a go. I decided to limit my trial to just one day for fear that too much of the GMO, inorganic, and highly processed ingredients could cut precious weeks from my life. Plus, I love food and I don’t like to deprive myself of it. Forcing myself to drink Soylent felt like forcing myself to eat marshmallows: I don’t like them and they’re unhealthy – so why try more than just a little bit? One blog post diminished some of my skepticism when an avid runner and track coach tried 30 days of Soylent and had improved blood work after the 30 days. How bad can one day be?

You either love Soylent or you hate it. (Photo: Soylent)

I had trouble deciding on a trial day because I look forward to eating so much that I knew my day would be significantly worse without it. I heard mixed reviews about the taste of Soylent, and I wasn’t looking forward to a day of it. In the morning before I had my first sip of the drink, I was hyper-aware of the smell of my coworker’s corn flakes next to me. I felt deprived from the get-go, but I was pleasantly surprised when I found that Soylent tastes a bit like bland cereal milk. But the consistency was hard to stomach and resembled pancake batter. I knew I would get sick of Soylent quickly.

In the middle of the day I wasn’t feeling hungry and thought about food much less than I expected to. Before starting my day, I suspected that Soylent would have an inverse effect on my productivity because I would be distracted by cravings despite not being hungry, but this was not the case. I kept four bottles available throughout the course of my day, but only ended up having three of them because I wasn’t hungry, even though I normally eat far more calories than this. I experienced none of the gassiness commonly reported by bloggers, and I got plenty of work done without thinking about food much. Eventually I just kind of forgot about it. Even when I went to a bar after work, soda water was doing the trick for me. Then, my nighttime desire to binge eat encroached.

When I came home at 10:30, I had gotten hungry and the idea of a lukewarm bottle of Soylent sounded nauseating. My brother was eating a vegan Bareburger that I’d been dying to try, and so I did. At that point, I felt no need to exercise restraint because I still didn’t believe Soylent was doing any good for my health, despite the runner’s story. I normally have no trouble sticking to juice and smoothie diets, but without the element of health involved, I couldn’t find a reason to motivate myself not to eat.

Soylent may have served its purpose in sustaining me and making me productive, but it removed a crucial component of my happiness from the day. Even if I have to eat as I type, I’m never so bogged down by work that I can’t find the time to get up to grab a snack.

“A meal replacement can be a useful tool in today’s busy world, although I don’t believe it’s a healthy option for long term use,” dietician and nutritionist Terra Arguimbau tells Yahoo Beauty. “The human body is not meant to subsist on the same things every day. Our bodies thrive when we eat a multitude of foods, giving us a variety of different nutrients that Soylent doesn’t provide.” Despite Soylent meeting the criteria for a balanced diet, there is no substitute for the vitamins and nutrients obtained from variety in food, and there is no standardized diet that works for everybody. “Proteins are one of, if not the most important nutrients in our body, but not all proteins are created equal,” says Arguimbau. “The quality of a protein varies based on how easily the body can absorb it.” She suggests that even though Soylent contains a suitable amount of protein, that protein may not all be utilized and digested since it is derived from soy alone.

Soylent ingredients are designed to completely sustain you. (Photo: Soylent)

Genetically modified soy is a particularly contentious ingredient as well. “There is still a lot of research needed to determine how safe it is to consume [GMO] products, especially in such high volumes,” says Arguimbau. “One of the only long term studies of GM foods fed to rats showed severe tumor growth. Unfortunately, there is not enough long term research to determine the effects on humans.” While Soylent inventor Rhinehart and his cult-like following have consumed the drink for years, it will take many more to know the lasting effects of the product. The drink may improve some people’s health in the short term, but it’s impossible to say what will happen in the future, making Soylent consumers human guinea pigs for medical, chemically based food.

Arguimbau believes that for athletes, Soylent is probably not a good option, especially without supplementary food. “Protein is necessary to repair muscle tissue after a strenuous workout, and Soylent is not a high quality protein in my opinion.” As for the reason that the runner’s blood work improved after 30 days of Soylent, Arguimbau believes that the temporary regulation and balance of nutrients and calories in his diet could have improved his overall health. Still she insists, “This is not a good determining factor of long term health.”

“Significant research proves that the human body is much more capable of absorbing nutrients from food than from supplements,” adds Arguimbau. “And the quality of nutrients found in food is also much more substantial.” Food is a foundational element of culture. It is the cornerstone of many traditions and holidays, and it doesn’t seem like Soylent will change that anytime soon. And the nutritionist confirms, “there is no chance that Soylent is better than a well balanced diet.”

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