The biggest thing about Rob’s project, IMO, is that many people are willing to take risks experimenting with the ingredients, providing a base for the same studies (even if the evidence is incomplete and anecdotal).

I’m not saying its impossible, just that we don’t know enough yet and the research is way way way behind the point where we can do this. It would be like saying “why can’t we just adjust neurons so that we are all geniuses.” Maybe one day we can but we are like decades away from even understanding how the brain works beyond our primitive understanding of the function massive structures that contain literally trillions of nerve endings.

I appreciate your faith in technological innovation but you don’t seem to appreciate how little we know. Our understanding is pretty basic. Biology is pretty complex. Its not a man-made software program where we know all the variables and can control them. We don’t even know what the variables. We’re trying to reverse engineer something WAY more complex than man has ever created. We’re still trying to figure what it is inside these fruits and vegetables are so beneficial and in what combinations they are beneficial.

Maybe some day, but not today. And I would suggest that trying to do this based on such limited understanding is much more likely to lead to sub-optimal and harmful results versus beneficial ones. So far that has been the case (eg lets isolate soy and make lots of food out of it, its so good for heart disease, oh weight it actually contributes to breast cancer… whoops!)

That said, I’m not sure why you keep assigning some kind of metaphysical attributes to the micronutrients. So they are destroyed when processed. Design a different way to process, or recreate these structures then! Or someone ruled that they are impossible to analyse?

All I am telling you is that every piece of medical and nutritional science on the planet having to do with food and nutrition says there is no substituting for actual fresh fruits and vegetables, particularly leafy greens. They are loaded thousands of different types of micronutrients which are destroyed when processed. And they work in combination so you can’t just isolate one particular sub-compound and get the benefit of the whole. And the benefits are tremendous. Huge decreases in risk factors for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, pretty much every disease of civilization.

If you’re getting the same message over and over its because you’re not receiving the information. There is no magical processing technique that is going to magically reverse the laws of biology.

Instead of hoping for some fantasy “real food replacement” why not study up on all the studies on nutrition which basically make it ABUNDANTLY clear that if you want to prevent disease the best course of action food-wise is to eat as many fresh fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens as possible. All the science agrees on this. Whether meat is necessary, or if grains are necessary, or how much fat is good, etc. is all debatable, the science is mixed. But there is literally no debate on the importance FRESH GREENS, VEGETABLES AND FRUITS.

Why is this so hard to comprehend. Processing of any kind kills the micro-nutrients. Yes you can still get carbs, protein, and fat. That’s wonderful. And you can survive on it (i.e. Ensure Myoplex, etc.) but it does not replace the benefits of fresh fruits, greens, and vegetables.

Personally I try to eat as much as that stuff as I can every day, because I’m not looking simply for food that will sustain me but for food that will maximize my health.

If you just want simple meal replacement, go to McDonalds every day. Its food. Its quick. Its cheap. Its got all your basic needs covered.

Oy vey.

These are performance meals and medical foods. Note the word COMPLETE in caps. I keep asking the other folks with the same argument the same question, and they again point to supplements.

“Nothing is a replacement for real food”. Duh! This is what the project is about, to come up with a replacement for real food. Not supplements.

Do the fruits and vegetables contain some kind of metaphysical substance that can’t be analysed? Like “planes are stupid because only the birds can fly”?

Why would anyone need a replacement for real food? Plenty of reasons. Custom-tailored optimised nutrition, preservation of natural resources, even space exploration.

But I hate to tell you, nothing is a replacement for real food. Added Vitamins (like in Soylent) does not equal fruits and vegetables.