Functional Foods, Gut Microbiota, and Health Benefits
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Nutrition".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 January 2026 | Viewed by 3283
Special Issue Editors
Interests: nanoencapsulation; functional foods; electrohydrodynamic processing; carbon dots; packaging solutions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Functional foods can be roughly defined as food products that are consumed within a regular diet and have been proven to display potential health benefits and/or to reduce the risk of chronic diseases. They can be categorized based on the method and goal of their fortification (e.g., naturally present foods, enriched foods, altered foods, enhanced foods, and fortified foods). They have attracted increased interest in recent years as consumers are more aware of the impact of their diet on their health. The broad category of functional foods includes prebiotics, probiotics, dietary fibers, and other compounds that can have an impact on the human gut microbiota. Recently, the human gut microbiota, its relationship with dietary habits, and the metabolites found in the gut have been linked to several health conditions and diseases (e.g., diabetes, autoimmune diseases, allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, and hepatic inflammation). As such, the interplay between our dietary habits and their influence on our gut microbiota and its health impacts is worthy of further exploration, as it holds significant potential in the development of functional foods that promote overall health and disease prevention.
Dr. Pedro Miguel Silva
Dr. Ana Isabel Bourbon
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. Foods 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 2900 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
- gut–brain axis
- gut microbiota
- health properties
- bioactive compounds
- probiotics
- prebiotics
- food personalization
- gut microbiome
- novel foods
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