Diet and Gut Health

Dear Colleagues,

Although not well-defined in the scientific literature, gut health has been increasingly recognized as a significant contributor to overall health. A healthy gut is generally conceived as being free of gastrointestinal symptoms and diseases, as well as the absence of risks of bowel disease. Among different factors contributing to gut health, diet has a significant influence in either a positive or a negative way, since our intestinal tract is continually exposed to a variety of dietary components every day. Even though terms such as “gut health food” have been coined in the commercial food market, how different foods and food components affect gut health remains largely unexplored. Recent research has indicated that diet could influence gastrointestinal health through modulating gut microbiota and intestinal barrier function, but the underlying mechanism is still largely uncharted territory for researchers. 

In this Special Issue of Foods, we encourage manuscripts that explore the influences of various types of foods (e.g., fermented foods) or food components on various aspects of gut health, including but not limited to gut microbiota, enteric infection, intestinal epithelial function, etc. The food components examined could range from nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals, to other substances in food such as bioactive substances, food additives and food contaminants. In addition, the impact of different dietary patterns (such as the ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting, etc.) is also worthy of more attention. This Special Issue welcomes all original research and review articles which focus on the interaction between diet and gut health.

Prof. Xiaodong Xia
Prof. Dr. Chunbao Li
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.