The review article summarizes the historical development of our understanding of food composition from pre-history to the present day. It provides an overview of the specific nutrient discoveries, and focuses especial-ly on the beginnings of scientific research of fat, saccharides, proteins, minerals, and vitamins in foods and discoveries of the association between their inadequate intake and human nutritional status. The article also describes the shift in major concern from malnutrition and specific nutrient deficiencies during the first half of the 20th century to over-nutrition in the second half of the 20th century, the development of nutritional epi¬demiology, and the expectations for the 21st century associated with the decoding ofthe human genome and the development of nutrition genomics.

        Key words: nutrition, foods, nutrients, history, discoveries.