Nutrition & Food Your Food Has 139,000 Molecules. Standard Nutrition Science Tracks About 150.
A May 2025 NEJM review pegs the chemical complexity of the human diet at more than 139,000 molecules. USDA-style databases track around 150. That gap is not a footnote, and it is why so much nutrition guidance keeps aging badly.
By Sarah Okonkwo · June 18, 2026