Metabolomics in Functional Foods and Nutritional Health

Dear Colleagues,

The potential of functional foods to improve health and fend against illness has attracted an increasing amount of attention. These foods have bioactive ingredients that provide health advantages beyond basic nutrition, including immunological and intestinal modulation as well as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-obesity properties. However, the molecular mechanisms and targets of action that underlie their effectiveness are still poorly understood, which restricts their use in health foods. Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that a thorough understanding of the fundamental structure, molecular characterisation, and bioactivities of those functional foods from various sources is necessary to comprehend the mechanism of bioactivities and efficacy.

Metabolomics is presented as a powerful systems‑biology tool that captures global metabolic changes before and after consuming functional foods, enabling researchers to identify specific bioactive metabolites and their effects on health. Metabolomics helps uncover how functional foods modulate metabolic pathways linked to diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disorders, as well as how processing and storage alter their bioactive composition.

The metabolomics can be used to understand how functional foods affect human metabolism and health. It highlights how this approach captures dynamic changes in metabolic profiles before and after food intake, revealing key bioactive compounds, metabolic pathways, and early biomarkers related to health outcomes. It can provide a systems‑level view of food–metabolism interactions, supporting the science‑based design of functional foods and more personalized nutritional strategies.

This Special Issue, titled “Metabolomics in Functional Foods and Nutritional Health”, invites original research and review articles focused on the molecular-level investigation of functional foods and nutritional health. Topics include, but are not limited to, metabolomics-based identification of bioactive compounds, structural elucidation of these bioactives, and the underlying molecular mechanisms of their health benefits.

Authors are encouraged to integrate molecular biology, structural analysis, and biomolecular experiments to provide novel insight into the bioactive mechanisms of functional foods. Submissions should emphasize the mechanistic interplay between bioactive components and biological systems. Studies that employ metabolomics or multiomics technologies are particularly welcome in order to advance the field of functional food and nutritional health sciences.

Dr. Ahmed Mediani
Dr. Nurkhalida Kamal
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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