Harvard Physicist Maps Thousands of Undocumented Chemicals in Food

Computational physicist Giulia Menichetti is searching for “dark matter” in our food. Beyond the known macronutrients, vitamins, and minerals, the foods we consume contain a vast array of natural chemicals that remain largely uncharacterized, and these substances may influence human health.

“They can interact, bind to human proteins, and modulate our microbiome,” Menichetti of Harvard Medical School explains. “Our goal is to increase awareness of the role of food and nutrition in overall health.”

Menichetti leads the Foodome project, which aims to map the complete chemical complexity of food. Her team employs artificial intelligence to sift through scientific literature and identify every chemical compound linked to foods. They focus on compounds not captured by epidemiological studies—what she calls “nutritional dark matter.” To date, the team has cataloged approximately 140,000 distinct molecules.

While many assume that chemicals in food are primarily artificial additives, Menichetti’s research also encompasses naturally occurring substances. For example, Foodome has identified nearly 7,000 different molecules in raw garlic. Some of these compounds have been studied for health benefits, while others represent entirely novel entities.

Foodome continues to mine the scientific literature and expand its databases. Ultimately, Menichetti envisions AI systems capable of predicting how all food-derived molecules interact both with each other and within the human body.

“The chemical complexity of organisms surrounds us, and food is our primary means of engaging with that environment. We need to study it more thoroughly,” she remarks.

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