THE HEALTH DEBRIEF
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COMPILED BY SUE QUINN
THE EXPERT’S VIEW
BY KIMBERLEY WILSON, A PSYCHOLOGIST SPECIALISING IN NUTRITION AND MENTAL HEALTH
“What does the rise of ‘drinkable meals’ say about our changing attitudes to food?”
More of us are consuming our meals in liquid form than ever before. According to Mintel, the number of Americans using meal replacement drinks more than doubled between 2012 and 2016, and worldwide growth is expected to continue. Meal replacement shakes have been on the market for decades, but a new breed of products has emerged from the hyper-competitive, longhours environments of Silicon Valley and similar international tech hubs.
Both Soylent from the US and British brand Huel market themselves as providing ‘efficient, streamlined nutrition’ designed to appeal to time-poor workers who are stuck at their desks working through another lunch break.
In a sense, drinkable meals aren’t dissimilar to having meal kits delivered to your door. Both claim to provide you with a nutritionally balanced meal with the added bonus of convenience. With meal kits, the ingredients have been measured for you. With drinkable meals, you don’t even have to chew.