John de la Parra’s childhood passion for exploring plants on his family’s farm in Alabama has led him to become an ethnobotanist and plant chemist, now working as the Director of the Food Initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation. He believes that traditional societies have long revered certain foods for their medicinal properties, but modern science has only scratched the surface of understanding the biochemical composition of what we eat. This has led to the development of the Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI), which aims to capture the known and unknown biochemical properties of food using cutting-edge technologies like high-resolution mass spectrometry and artificial intelligence.
The PTFI database, developed by The Rockefeller Foundation, is gathering data on a wide range of foods from around the world that have been cherished for their medicinal properties by indigenous cultures for millennia. This initiative is supported by the American Heart Association and facilitated by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, with an initial focus on capturing data on about 500 foods out of a list of 1,650. The aim is to provide the scientific community with a comprehensive resource for exploring the relationship between food composition, nutrition, and health, while bridging the gap between ancient wisdom and modern scientific discoveries.
The development of MarkerLab, an online data visualization tool, will allow researchers to explore and compare foods and compounds from the PTFI database in a clear and informative way. By collecting both empirical chemical data on foods and metadata, such as how the food was grown and its cultural significance, the PTFI aims to provide a holistic understanding of food and its role in human and planetary health. The initiative is timely as the world grapples with diet-related diseases and climate change, highlighting the importance of building a more sustainable and resilient food system.
The PTFI repository includes over 1,000 foods not found in globally recognized food composition databases, shining a light on overlooked foods like wattleseeds in the Acacia genus, traditionally used by Aboriginal Australians. This initiative is essential for validating traditional practices, creating evidence-based dietary guidelines, and potentially advancing personalized nutrition based on genetic heritage. By standardizing methods across diverse contexts, the PTFI aims to empower stakeholders across the food system to make informed decisions that promote diversity, sustainability, and resilience in food production and consumption.
The Periodic Table of Food Initiative is not just a scientific endeavor, but a bridge between past traditions and future advancements in understanding food as medicine. As we uncover the medicinal properties of traditional foods through modern technology, we open new possibilities for health, sustainability, and global well-being. This initiative marks the dawn of a new era in defining food as medicine, one that respects ancient wisdom while embracing the potential for scientific discoveries and holistic well-being.
