Bioactive Compounds from Plants as Functional Food Ingredients and Potential Nutraceuticals

Dear Colleagues,

Fruits, vegetables, cereals, and various other plants exhibit health-related properties due to the bioactive compounds they contain, such as pigments, polyphenols, phytosterols or biologically active proteins. Since some plants require cooking and preparation, or have limited availability, the extraction of bioactive compounds for the purpose of being used as functional ingredients or nutraceuticals has garnered extensive interest. In this manner, they become more accessible for consumption, ensure consistency for intake doses, become more efficient, and better preserved. Their integrity, stability, biological activity, and effects could be enhanced through external actions applied during extraction or further processing. Current research proposes the following bioactive compound extraction method: extraction with green methods that implement optimization strategies in order to conserve their composition or function, followed by further processing, encapsulation, or inclusion into tailored structures, which could increase their biological activity, effects, adsorption, digestibility, and targeted release.

We invite you to submit your work representing the recent progress related to the extraction of bioactive compounds from plants, their usage as ingredients in foods or as nutraceuticals, in native or processed forms, while meeting the requirements related to eco-sustainability, safety, industrial development, and consumer's health promotion. We look forward to your submissions.

Dr. Andreea Puşcaş
Prof. Dr. Vlad Mureşan
Guest Editors

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