"Unimportant" Molecules?-Part 1

About a century ago when research into the nutritional components of food began, scientists were limited by the technology and physiological understanding of the time. Nonetheless, this pioneering research revealed the importance of many nutrients for the maintenance of life and prevention of overt deficiency diseases. Unfortunately, the necessary simplifications led to the unrecognized assumption that the constituents in food not required for life were not important. This justified growing food chemically rather than organically because essential nutrients were largely (but not entirely) conserved. However, as technology advanced-especially at the turn of this century-much was revealed. Nutrients considered single molecules when discovered were now realized to represent multiple variants and vitamers with significantly different physiological effects, and many of the molecules considered "unimportant" have huge impacts on health and resistance to disease.