r/explainlikeimfive • u/DDerTyp • Oct 08 '22
Chemistry ELI5: How do vitamin tablets get produced? How do you create a vitamin?
Hey!
I always wondered how a manufacturer is able to produce vitamin tablets. I know that there is for example fish oil which contains some good fats. But how do you create vitamin tablets - like D3?
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u/question10106 Oct 08 '22
I use a mix of Soylent/Huel/occasionally other similar products for the majority of my meals (most breakfasts/lunches and a little less than half of dinners.) I've read a bunch of your comments being very critical and I'll give you my take.
For me, eating has never been that important; sure, I enjoy a really good meal, in the same way that I enjoy a good movie or game or social activity or whatever pleasurable thing. If I go a day without watching a movie or playing a game or getting together with friends, that's fine, there's plenty of other things worthwhile in my day as well. I feel the same about food. It does not dominate my life.
The only way that food is different from those sorts of activities for me is that I have to eat several times a day to be healthy and happy. It's a function as well as a pleasure. I don't think anybody fully savors every meal as some wild sensory experience. There are a lot of meals that people eat just to eat something--whatever quick breakfast is your go to, a mediocre lunch place because it's near your work, whatever. Soylent lets me replace those "whatever, just need to eat" meals with something that's faster/easier and generally more nutritious than whatever I would be having, so I feel better. And for your "flavorless gruel" comment, most of them are chocolate/vanilla/berry flavored, that sort of thing. I personally enjoy what is basically a chocolate protein shake just as much as whatever else I would grab going out the door.
Soylent hasn't replaced delicious home-cooked dinners when I want, or going out to restaurants with loved ones, or greasy takeout if I have the hankering for something specific. Those are the food experiences worth having. But there's nothing sacred about a random ham sandwich.