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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The ancient Greek Hippocrates, the founder of medicine, said around 2500 years ago, "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food." This proverb was revitalized in the 1900s, as several studies emphasized the significance of nutrition in disease prevention and the wellness promotion of human health.

Scientists, for several decades now, have been in the process of identifying physiologically active components of terrestrial and marine origin materials that have the potential to slow down various chronic conditions. These factors, together with an aging, health-conscious population, changes in food legislation, many technical advancements, and a market ready for the introduction of health-promoting foodstuffs, gave rise to the concept of "functional foods."

We are pleased to announce this Collection entitled "Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: "Functional Foods". This issue will be a collection of papers from researchers invited by the Editorial Board Members.

The aim is to provide a venue for networking and communication between applied sciences and scholars in the field of functional foods in topics such as analysis, formulations, stability, safety, bioavailability and health effects.

Dr. Haralabos Christos Karantonis
Prof. Dr. José Manuel Moreno-Rojas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2300 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

functional foods: functional ingredients
bioactive compounds
human health
human wellness bioavailability bioactivity

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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Open AccessArticle

Does the Nature of Added Bioactive Lipids Affect the Biological Properties of Yogurts?—Case Study Coconut and Avocado Oils

Manuela Machado

Luís M. Rodríguez-Alcalá

Ana Maria Gomes

and

Manuela Pintado

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(5), 3101; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13053101 - 28 Feb 2023

Viewed by 780

Abstract

Bioactive lipids play an important role in human health and their benefits are linked to their chemical nature; for example, medium-chain fatty acids can have an important contribution to body weight management. This work aimed to test a strategy to enhance the quality profile and gastrointestinal tract resistance of previously developed vegetable oil-functionalized yogurts and further probe the biological potential of functionalized yogurts. Fortification with coconut and avocado vegetable oils led to increased nutritional value through an increase in essential fatty acids content, particularly in yogurts with vegetable oil bigels. One of the main problems with bioactive fatty acids fortification is their poor stability during in vitro digestion and consequently poor bioavailability. Despite this, the digested samples decreased lipid accumulation in Hep G2 and 3T3-L1 cells Functionalized yogurts were also responsible for high improvements in adiponectin secretion (35% for COY, 46% for CBY, 53% for AOY, and 48% ABY) compared with control yogurt. Moreover, in the inflammatory model, a reduction between 30% (for control yogurt) and 70% (for CBY) was observed for IL-6 secretion in LPS-stimulated cells. Considering these results, yogurt’s fortification with vegetable oils can be a viable alternative strategy to be scaled up for obesity management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Functional Foods)

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Review

Jump to: Research

Open AccessReview

Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLNs) and Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLCs) as Food-Grade Nanovehicles for Hydrophobic Nutraceuticals or Bioactives

Chuan-He Tang

Huan-Le Chen

and

Jin-Ru Dong

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(3), 1726; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13031726 - 29 Jan 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1767

Abstract

Although solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) have been successfully used as drug delivery systems for about 30 years, the usage of these nanoparticles as food-grade nanovehicles for nutraceuticals or bioactive compounds has been, relatively speaking, scarcely investigated. With fast-increasing interest in the incorporation of a wide range of bioactives in food formulations, as well as health awareness of consumers, there has been a renewed urge for the development of food-compatible SLNs and/or NLCs as nanovehicles for improving water dispersibility, stability, bioavailability, and bioactivities of many lipophilic nutraceuticals or poorly soluble bioactives. In this review, the development of food-grade SLNs and NLCs, as well as their utilization as nanosized delivery systems for lipophilic or hydrophobic nutraceuticals, was comprehensively reviewed. First, the structural composition and preparation methods of food-grade SLNs and NLCs were simply summarized. Next, some key issues about the usage of such nanoparticles as oral nanovehicles, e.g., incorporation and release of bioactives, oxidative stability, lipid digestion and absorption, and intestinal transport, were critically discussed. Then, recent advances in the utilization of SLNs and NLCs as nanovehicles for encapsulation and delivery of different liposoluble or poorly soluble nutraceuticals or bioactives were comprehensively reviewed. The performance of such nanoparticles as nanovehicles for improving stability, bioavailability, and bioactivities of curcuminoids (and curcumin in particular) was also highlighted. Lastly, some strategies to improve the oral bioavailability and delivery of loaded nutraceuticals in such nanoparticles were presented. The review will be relevant, providing state-of-the-art knowledge about the development of food-grade lipid-based nanovehicles for improving the stability and bioavailability of many nutraceuticals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members' Collection Series: Functional Foods)

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