# What's in Matrix goop? - a nutrition question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013 "2012-11-14T18:58:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/21 "2012-11-15T06:11:10Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The evidence is that the workers who built the pyramids weren’t slaves though. The workers were, in fact, paid in beer - a common practice in ancient Egypt. Great read: [A History of the World in 6 Glasses: Standage, Tom: 9780802715524: Amazon.com: Books](http://www.amazon.com/History-World-6-Glasses/dp/0802715524) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/22 "2012-11-15T06:47:34Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > You’re assuming you’re able to absorb 100% of the nutrients, or, more precisely, the same proportion of each nutrient you need. Let’s say that you can absorb exactly half of everything you need when you eat a human, except for Vitamin W. You can only absorb 10% of the Vitamin W that goes through your system. Thus, when you eat two humans, you’ve absorbed everything you need to make your body, except for Vitamin W - you’ve only got 20% of what you need of that. > > The point is, there’s a difference between what you need being present in your food and being able to get what you need out of your food. Vitamin W? 😕 Is this some sort of joke or reference I am not getting? Is it a typo? Not only have I never heard of a vitamin W, neither Wikipedia nor Google seem to know of it, either as an actual vitamin or some other nutrient (or even as any remotely relevant humorous reference, so far as I can tell). Urban Dictionary says it means whiskey or marijuana (weed). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/23 "2012-11-15T06:57:33Z")
I’m thinking **Smeghead** was using it by way of illustration. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/24 "2012-11-15T07:01:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Let’s say … except for Vitamin W. I would assume the meaning is “some Vitamin X” where X is unknown. That is the usual meaning of “Lets say” I doubt there is any intent that a specific vitamin is designated. Which is why a non-existent vitamin was chosen. (Maybe a slight joke reference using W instead of X.) ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/25 "2012-11-15T08:06:50Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I have heard that white potatoes contain just about everything you need to keep alive. Not optimal eating, but you could survive on nothing but. > > How true is that? [The Master Speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2828/could-i-survive-on-nothing-but-potatoes-and-milk) … Si ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/26 "2012-11-15T09:42:30Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Vitamin W? 😕 > > Is this some sort of joke or reference I am not getting? Is it a typo? Not only have I never heard of a vitamin W, neither Wikipedia nor Google seem to know of it, either as an actual vitamin or some other nutrient (or even as any remotely relevant humorous reference, so far as I can tell). Urban Dictionary says it means whiskey or marijuana (weed). /facepalm ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/27 "2012-11-15T10:06:49Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > It is known that the consumed both seaweed and algae as part of their traditional diet Slight nitpick - seaweeds _are_ algae. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/28 "2012-11-15T11:47:38Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Slight nitpick - seaweeds _are_ algae. Not even 7 AM yet, and I already learned something new today. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/29 "2012-11-15T12:35:27Z")
Vitamin W helps you makes decisions. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/30 "2012-11-15T13:38:47Z")
I’m always puzzled by how often this question arises on the Dope, as if it was some kind of holy grail to be able to eat one food for every meal and not starve. If I had to exist on one food even for a week I think I’d rather starve anyway\*. Do none of you people enjoy food? - Possible exception for hot buttered toast with Marmite. In fact I may actually have lived on this and tea for that long… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/31 "2012-11-15T13:39:59Z")
Matrix Goop is not a real thing. For a liquid of that consistency, you’d have to consume gallons of the stuff to get enough energy. I’m in the unfortunate position of knowing this because, due to an ongoing dental problem (dry socket = nasty (and yes, I’m British :rolleyes: )), I am currently unable to consume any solid food. So my lunch consists of about 500ml of very thick milkshake comprising: 50g each of peanut butter and dried skimmed milk, 100g of raw banana, 100g of greek yoghurt - chocolate powder for flavour and enough full-fat milk to make it pourable when blended. 500ml of this stuff provides about 650 calories - a sedentary adult male could break even (energy-wise) on about three of these 500ml portions a day. An active person might need double that or more. 500ml at lunch leaves me feeling quite full for the whole afternoon and I’m losing weight fast. And this is something that’s very much thicker and richer than the watery goop in The Matrix (which they only seem to require about 50ml of at a sitting. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/32 "2012-11-15T14:06:32Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I’m always puzzled by how often this question arises on the Dope, as if it was some kind of holy grail to be able to eat one food for every meal and not starve. If I had to exist on one food even for a week I think I’d rather starve anyway\*. Do none of you people enjoy food? Indeed. One is reminded that the US space programme went to significant lengths to create a varied and palatable array of foods for the astronauts, and most missions (apart from Skylab and the ISS) were for little more than a week. This is an application where science fiction has had as a staple the idea of meals in a pill or worse. The other exemplar is submariners. I was impressed to discover that the sub crews (at least of old) were fed the best that could possibly be managed aboard, and crew members often brought additional food ingredients along as a significant part of their limited personal locker space - to be provided to the cook in return for a share of other food created from other crew members additions. Both examples basically showing that humans, for the most part, really crave real food, and the idea of a universal goop is something that exists on the minds of sci-fi writers and a curious tiny part of the population who just don’t get good food. In Heinlein’s The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, I always remember the almost throw away remark that Mr Hoag was impressed how the designer of humans had had the creative genius to make the intake of sustenance a pleasure. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/33 "2012-11-15T14:12:34Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > Both examples basically showing that humans, for the most part, really crave real food… Prisoners’ opinions of nutraloaf further supports that position. ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/34 "2012-11-15T14:22:18Z")
People who are tube-fed live on liquid formulas like Ensure. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/35 "2012-11-15T14:22:31Z")
The Dilberito is supposed to be nutritionally complete: [http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/1999/03/21/make-that-mr-dilbert.html](http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/1999/03/21/make-that-mr-dilbert.html) [http://www.dietfacts.com/html/nutrition-facts/dilberito-spicy-indian-burrito-without-mango-chutney-42050.htm](http://www.dietfacts.com/html/nutrition-facts/dilberito-spicy-indian-burrito-without-mango-chutney-42050.htm) ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/36 "2012-11-15T14:44:10Z")
I’ve read that (chicken) eggs contain the whole range of vitamins, amino acids, etc. that the human body requires to live, that it’s the most nutritionally complete single food item and others are compared to it as a baseline. Any truth to that? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/37 "2012-11-15T15:32:36Z")
> [@Silvorange](#): > > People who are tube-fed live on liquid formulas like Ensure. I once lived for six months by this method. It sucked. But I’m alive, so… ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/38 "2012-11-15T16:39:22Z")
Thanks for the replies and the (ahem) food for thought. For the record: I know the Matrix goop isn’t real and Dozer’s script was technobabble. I referred to it merely as inspirational imagery. I haven’t yet digested (I’m here all week) the other linked-to thread on the topic. My apologies if continuing the discussion here is redudnant. The fundamental question is, if the Matrix goop provides “everything the body needs”, what is the actual list of what needs to be in the goop? I want to take that list and compare it to the ingredients of Monkey Chow (thanks for that!) or Ensure, or use it to make my own prison loaf. **Machine Elf** says “The nutritional requirements of the human body are pretty well understood” It is not understood by me. There is an overwhelming variety of sources claiming to know in bookstores and on the internet. Health Canada’s food guide is helpful but complex. I’m certainly not enamoured with the idea of chomping only Monkey Chow or slurping only Ensure for life. It would be nice to know, though, what it the absolutely simplest way to stuff into my body the minimum required checklist of stuff I need. Something like: x g of protien y g of riboflavin w mg of vitamin w Using this, at least in principle one could create a quantum with the correct proportions of all of this, then apply some simple formula including age, weight, gender to count out the right number of quanta to eat at the right times throughout the day: e.g. 5 pellets (or cups if liquid) at breakfast, 2 at 10:30, 6 at lunch, etc… I presume from the discussions such a checklist/recipe/forumula/schedule would apply to all humans (perhaps different for those who are pregnant or have a specific medical condition). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/39 "2012-11-15T18:30:18Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > I’m certainly not enamoured with the idea of chomping only Monkey Chow or slurping only Ensure for life. It would be nice to know, though, what it the absolutely simplest way to stuff into my body the minimum required checklist of stuff I need. > > Something like: > x g of protien > y g of riboflavin > w mg of vitamin w You’ll find probably most of the information you want here: [http://www.nutrition.gov/smart-nutrition-101/dietary-reference-intakes-rdas](http://www.nutrition.gov/smart-nutrition-101/dietary-reference-intakes-rdas) But as I said, I think it’ll be hard to make this into a liquid form that isn’t a chore to consume. Pellets, sure - human chow, as has been discussed many a time. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013/40 "2012-11-15T19:11:25Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > **Machine Elf** says “The nutritional requirements of the human body are pretty well understood” It is not understood by me. There is an overwhelming variety of sources claiming to know in bookstores and on the internet. Health Canada’s food guide is helpful but complex. Most of those nutrition books (heck, most of the vitamin industry itself) are insane and unscientific. While there is some scientific debate over the exact amount of vitamin X to minimize your chance of cancer/disease Y, the amounts for general healthy living are pretty clearly defined and applicable to most healthy adults, who do get most of what they need from an ordinary diet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-matrix-goop-a-nutrition-question/641013.md?page=3)