Bioactive Compounds in Agricultural Products and Their Functional Characteristics

Dear Colleagues,

Many developed countries have now entered an aging society. The medical expenses and care of chronic diseases of the elderly have already caused a huge social burden. Under the concept of prevention is better than cure, there are many varieties of health products on the market, and the ingredients of these health products mostly come from traditionally used herbs and agricultural crops. Herbs and related agricultural crops contain many functional ingredients (phytochemicals) that can maintain human health, so that the products produced have the function of preventing chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, there are many ways to improve functions in health products, such as: 1. Scientifically verify the function and mechanism of phytochemicals in herbs and agricultural crops; 2. Increase the content and stability of these phytochemicals through new processing methods; 3. Add phytochemicals to enrich health products; 4. Purification and separation from the crude extracts;  5. Standardized production process to obtain the maximum quality and amounts of the active index compounds; and 6. Verify the safety of health products or the extracts. We expect that the research on this Special Issue, ‘Bioactive Compounds in Agricultural Products and Their Functional Characteristics’, can promote the health of human beings. Meanwhile, it can also strengthen the development and utilization of active ingredients in agricultural products.

Prof. Dr. Tuzz-Ying Song
Prof. Dr. Po-Hsien Li
Guest Editors

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