What we eat is packed with hidden chemistry that may hold the key to both disease and health.
When the human genome was first sequenced in 2003, many believed this breakthrough would reveal the full origins of disease. Yet, genetics accounts for only about 10% of overall risk. The remaining 90% is shaped by environmental factors, with diet playing a particularly significant role.
Globally, poor nutrition is estimated to contribute to roughly one in five deaths among adults over the age of 25. In Europe, dietary factors alone are responsible for nearly half of all cardiovascular fatalities.
Despite decades of public health campaigns urging people to reduce fat, salt, and sugar, obesity rates and diet-related diseases have continued to climb. Clearly, something is missing from the way we think about food.
Beyond calories and nutrients
For much of modern history, nutrition has been described in simplified terms, viewing food primarily as fuel and nutrients as the building blocks of the body. Attention has focused on about 150 well-known chemicals such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and vitamins. However, researchers now believe that the human diet actually contains more than 26,000 distinct compounds, the majority of which remain largely unexplored.
