A recent article by Nancy Brown, published by the World Economic Forum, highlights a growing shift in how nutrition is understood and applied, moving from broad dietary guidance toward evidence-based, data-driven insight. The article raises a practical question:
What do we actually know about the foods we eat and how can that knowledge be used to improve health outcomes at scale?
At the center of this shift is the Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI), a global collaboration working to systematically map the molecular composition of foods and make that data usable across nutrition, agriculture, and public health. The initiative is supported by a coalition of partners, including the American Heart Association, reflecting a shared commitment to advancing nutrition science as a foundation for preventive health.
Chronic disease and nutrition
Despite significant advances in healthcare, diet-related chronic diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and hypertension, remain among the leading causes of death worldwide. Poor diet quality isn’t just a health issue; it undermines economic resilience, burdens healthcare systems, and deepens inequities in communities across the globe.
Addressing this challenge requires a more robust way of understanding, measuring, and using food as a foundation of health, placing greater emphasis on prevention rather than treatment.
PTFI: Mapping the molecular blueprint of food
The Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI), is a global collaboration that aims to map the biomolecular composition of the world’s food supply. Just as the periodic table transformed chemistry by organizing elements according to their properties, the PTFI seeks to organize food’s “chemical diversity” into a dynamic, standardized resource.
Today’s food composition databases typically profile only a fraction of the molecules present in foods. In contrast, PTFI’s approach leverages multi-omics science covering metabolites, lipids, proteins, and more, capturing thousands of biomolecules that shape food quality and nutrition in complex, meaningful ways.
A global scientific and collaborative effort
PTFI operates through a global network of partners focused on generating and standardizing food composition data, enabling stakeholders to:
- Assess how food composition varies across soils, climates, agricultural practices, and biodiversity.
- Investigate associations between specific food molecules and health outcomes.
- Inform research and policy decisions using standardized data rather than aggregated averages.
The PTFI ecosystem extends beyond data generation by supporting practical applications of food composition data in nutrition and public health, such as Swap It Smart, developed with support from the Bezos Earth Fund in collaboration with University of California, Davis, the American Heart Association, and PIPA.
Nutrition policy, informed by evidence
By combining high-quality data with advanced technology and rigorous science, new approaches in nutrition are making it possible to better understand food and its role in health. For companies and organizations committed to wellness and sustainability, the implication is clear: improving insight into food composition supports more informed decisions that can contribute to better health outcomes over time.
