Bringing Boston food science to Europe

At the core of FoodProX is research on what has been described as the “dark matter of nutrition”—the vast, largely uncharacterized chemical and structural complexity of modern foods that is not captured by standard nutrition labels.

Two key researchers driving this field are Prof. Albert-László Barabási and Prof. Giulia Menichetti, whose work bridges network science, machine learning, and nutrition. Their research shows that food processing, ingredient structure, and chemical composition play a major role in shaping dietary patterns and health outcomes, and that these factors can be studied systematically using data-driven methods.

FoodProX applies these scientific insights to the European food landscape, adapting them to multilingual labels, diverse product formulations, and regional food systems.

The goal of FoodProX is not to replace traditional nutrition information, but to complement it with an additional layer of insight: how processed a food is and what that processing implies. By doing so, FoodProX aims to support consumers, researchers, and partners in making more informed, evidence-based decisions.

The FoodProX platform builds on a body of peer-reviewed research and intellectual property, including:

1. The unmapped chemical complexity of our diet
   AL Barabási, G Menichetti, J Loscalzo — Nature Food 1(2), 140–140
2. A systematic comprehensive longitudinal evaluation of dietary factors associated with acute myocardial infarction and fatal coronary heart diseases
   S Milanlouei, G Menichetti, Y Li, J Loscalzo, WC Willett, AL Barabási — Nature Communications 11(1), 1–14
3. Exploring food contents in scientific literature with FoodMine
   F Hooton, G Menichetti, AL Barabási — Scientific Reports 10(1), 1–8
4. Systems and methods for identifying food processing and prescribing a diet
   G Menichetti, AL Barabási — WO Patent WO2021158951A8
5. Nutrient concentrations in food display universal behavior
   G Menichetti, AL Barabási — Nature Food 3(5), 375–382