Isn't this like saying macro-nutrients are all that matters? Pop a vitamin and eat slop made from grounding up all the animal parts? In theory it makes sense but we haven't even begun to understand the millions of different hydrocarbons in a small piece of meat. So there is an unscientific albeit widely believed statement about quality ingredients.
There isn't legislation to make sure only X is allowed in a processed food - there are only laws that exclude known harmful things like brain matter because of prions, or antibiotics if labeled as such, or pesticides if labeled as organic. /u/given even linked a study less than 2 weeks ago
showing that an array of human vaccines tested had a slew of metal and other contaminants. The only vaccine tested that lacked contaminents was a veterinary vaccine for distemper..smh [1]
The closest, one would think to getting pure macros, is plant or whey-based proteins, carbohydrates, and oils/lipids like coconut oil. But most of the pure plant protein powders and supplements have an even worse infiltration - high levels of metals from the soil the plants were grown in. Highly dependent on the country of origin. Now, I'd garner that if these companies cared enough and could spend more money, they'd be able to chellate or use ion-exchange filters, or maybe just mechnical methods like centrifugal separation / sub-micron filters, etc.. to remove the metals and other undesirables.
Do biological contaminents in plants get even near the possible ones' in animals like cortisol? Does a poorly sunlit plant produce stress chemicals? I'd guess that because the animal kingdom is a divergent evolution to the plant kingdom, harmful compounds would be lesser. Yes, we have phytoestrogens from soy, and tobacco, hemp, poppy, and all kinds of poisonous plants out there. A side note, plant alkaloids serve two functions, to poison to protect the plant or to create desire for the purpose of spreading seeds; this is why poisons are often found on leaves, while desirable drugs or flavors are found on the fruit or seedbearing parts. It's not an easy distinction to make, poison vs drug - many substances we consider drugs are actually made by the plants to protect themselves, ie. tobacco or willow bark (aspirin).
In any case, the chemicals naturally found in acceptable farmed plant species are likely to be less reactive in an animal body, than a poorly treated cortisol-filled animals' internal chemistry.
It'd be awesome if there truly was a micron-filtered food supplement out there. But even Soylent isn't that. The protein powders on the market, pea, crickets, whey, etc.. all have the aforementioned issues with heavy metals or hormones.
It's a grace of our generation to know most of the vitamins and minerals required by our bodies. To be able to eat just pure carbs, fats, and proteins, and pop a vitamin for the rest. But we still don't have food products that provide pure macros. When will we see the futuristic "slab" or "paste" that is literally only a single digit number of compounds? I think it's about time that we get something like this.
I'm actually in the process of producing a bee-derived meal replacement shake that will feature sub-micron filtration. [2] Honey might be your first thought but bee pollen is the main ingredient - it's actually packed with tons of protein and isn't sweet. Let me know if you would be interested in a purely bee honey, pollen, royal jelly based meal replacement. I haven't gauged interest yet so it'd be interesting to see if HN is interested. Cheers.
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27756430/
[2] https://imgur.com/a/YFTTQ