Comparing Soylent with Jevity Micros -- quantities are significantly different

Nemon 2013-12-19 22:04:09 UTC #1

Using the recently released Soylent micronutrient information, I've attempted to compare the micros with those in Jevity (an existing sole-source nutrition product by Abbott Nutrition.) There are several cases in which Soylent and Jevity appear to use the same source (ex: pyridoxine HCl for vitamin B6). I am assuming that the absorbance for such micronutrients should be similar between the two products in this case (though I have no domain expertise - let me know if this assumption is wrong). I would expect each product to contain an approximately equivalent amount of a micro if the sources are identical. However, I notice in many cases that Soylent contains much less of a given micro than does Jevity.

Below is a list comparing the quantities of each micro for which Soylent and Jevity appear to be using the same source. ~~This comparison assumes 1.5 L of 1.5 kcal/mL Jevity as daily consumption, which equates to 2250 kcal.~~ (ETA: As Jevity's nutrition facts state that 1500 kcal is needed to meet 100% RDI, that should be used as the basis instead.). Items are listed as (Nutrient) - (Source) - (Soylent amount) - (Jevity amount):

Vitamin C - Ascorbic Acid - 90 mg - 450 mg
Vitamin B9 - Folic Acid - Folic Acid - 400 mcg - 900 mcg
Vitamin B1 - Thiamin HCl - 1.2 mg - 3.4 mg
Vitamin B2 - Riboflavin - 1.3 mg - 3.9 mg
Vitamin B6 - Pyridoxine HCl - 1.3 mg - 4.5 mg
Vitamin B12 - Cyanocobalamin - 2.4 mg - 14 mg
Vitamin B7 - Biotin - 30 mcg - 675 mcg
Manganese - Manganese Sulfate - 2.3 mg - 7.5 mg
Chromium - Chromium Chloride - 35 mcg - 180 mcg
Molybdenum - Sodium Molybdate - 45 mcg - 225 mcg

Vitamin C - Ascorbic Acid - 90 mg - 300 mg
Vitamin B9 - Folic Acid - Folic Acid - 400 mcg - 600 mcg
Vitamin B1 - Thiamin HCl - 1.2 mg - 2.27 mg
Vitamin B2 - Riboflavin - 1.3 mg - 2.6 mg
Vitamin B6 - Pyridoxine HCl - 1.3 mg - 3 mg
Vitamin B12 - Cyanocobalamin - 2.4 mg - 9.33 mg
Vitamin B7 - Biotin - 30 mcg - 450 mcg
Manganese - Manganese Sulfate - 2.3 mg - 5 mg
Chromium - Chromium Chloride - 35 mcg - 120 mcg
Molybdenum - Sodium Molybdate - 45 mcg - 150 mcg

Soylent info can be found here, Jevity info can be found here. I'd appreciate it if anyone could shed some light on why these numbers appear to be so different between the two products. @rob

shadowhawkxx 2013-12-19 22:09:23 UTC #2

Adjust your figures to match a 1500Cal diet -- that is listed in Jevity's nutrition facts under "Cal to Meet 100% RDIs".

Remember that the core concept of Jevity is not a replacement for a "normal" diet -- it is designed as tube-feeding based nutrition. They are similar, but the product use case is not quite the same

Edit: And as a note, the "tube feeding diet" comment is intended to suggest both that Jevity aims for a lower calorie/activity requirement per day, and may have a different ratio of multiple substances, just because of absorption rate, sedentary requirements, other... things that actual nutritional PhD-holders would probably know more about than you or me, haha.

Nemon 2013-12-20 00:25:46 UTC #3

Revised the table above re: your correction -- thanks.

Agreed. Ideally, the difference is due to the two products being designed for different markets, each product is well-tuned for its own market, and the lesson here is to ask your doctor before substituting Soylent for your Jevity if you're on a tube-feeding diet. However, I'm having a bit of trouble picturing how that could completely account for the difference between the two products. I would raise an eyebrow at a claim that someone on a tube-feeding diet needs 3x the amount of molybdenum as would a healthy person on an oral diet (after attempting to account for absorbancy effects, which I've attempted to do by only comparing things which are sourced similarly.)

I'm hoping that everyone's got it right, and a few nutritional PhD-holders will swoop by to affirm this. ^^

shadowhawkxx 2013-12-20 01:04:24 UTC #4

(helpful tip for updating posts -- surround the first table with <del></del> for a ~~strikethrough~~! )

And I'm sure they both have their RDIs sorted out in some way or another, but I agree that it would be interesting to see the reason why Jevity is so much higher. Maybe they just overshoot by a lot? They do have listed straight out that they have 500% of the vitamin C RDI. But there's also cases like molybdenum, where they list 150mcg as 200%; 75 is still quite above Soylent's 45, so it's pretty clear they're working off a different spec sheet for what's "100%".

tomh9234 2015-01-21 03:55:58 UTC #5

Jevity 1.2 would have been a better comparison. I've been on it for over 1 1/2 yrs for 100% of my nutrition. I was interested in Soylent as a cheaper product.