YET ANOTHER WEIGHT LOSING "FORMULA"- DOES IT MAKE ANY SENSE?

With explosive information generated on practically every aspect of day to day life by scientists around the world, it is becoming increasingly difficult for common man to separate grain from the chaff to discern what is factual and what is fiction! Here is a typical report of a person narrating his experience vis-a-vis consuming a strange diet to make himself happy. What can one make out of this seemingly ridiculous claim?

"Rob Rhinehart has found a way to stop eating. Tired of spending time, money and energy on preparing meals, this young American decided to find a new way to survive without actual food. He created a unique mixture called "Soylent", which contains nothing but the elements the body needs: iron, vitamins, fat, calcium and dozens of other nutrients. This is minimalism in eating: Nothing in this beige milkshake-like beverage can be identified as coming from any recognizable food. Rhinehart followed a strict Soylent diet for several weeks and was amazed by the results of the experiment. He felt and looked healthier, and saved money and time. You can read the whole story on his website, and even find the recipe to make your own Soylent shake. Rhinehart describes food as the "fossil fuel of human energy", a geopolitical issue that rules the world, dividing North and South, the starving and the obese. After water, we all need food. So will this invention solve the world's food problems? Rhinehart might forget something here. First, abandoning traditional meals would be to lose a huge part of our culture. Most, if not all people enjoy eating traditional food too much to stop. But Rhinehart objects that with the money you save with Soylent, you will be able to eat a fewer but better meals in the week, and to go out to restaurants more often too. To add to these cultural problems, this liquid diet might lack some essential elements, such as certain microbes or minerals, that can only be gained by eating a diversity of food. It may be that a mixture of Soylent and traditional food could solve these nutritional issues. If you are interested in the experiment and would like to try it, you can subscribe on http://soylent.me/. And of course tell us about your experience!"

The author of the above claim seems to be turning the entire nutrition science upside down with absolutely no data to support except his own so called experience. Like many other diets like Atkins, South Beach etc this also may attract a few people desperate to lose weight, ultimately ending up in a mess with serious health repercussions. Fortunately this diet has not yet become a basis for a thriving industry and therefore may not attract the attention of safety experts and regulators. One may recall another claim made by an Indian recently that he was consuming only used engine oil for 15 years with apparently no ill effect on his heath! Such reports tend blur the border between fiction and reality. If governments all over the world want to discourage such mavericks trying to push their agenda, probably to further their craze for attention, laws ought to be placed to bring them to books for the sake of the Society at large. After all there have been and will be many gullible citizens to swallow such claims in their pursuit for short cuts to attain what they want, believing these outrageous claims!   
  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com