Functional Foods and Dietary Bioactives in Human Health, Second Edition
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: nutritional status; health; immunological status; hormonal status; inflammatory status
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: nutrition; health status; human observational studies and intervention trials; diet and lifestyle; bioactive compounds
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: molecular biology; bioactive compounds; molecular nutrition; hormone metabolism; cancer; hormone-related diseases; nutrigenomics; nutrigenetics; metabolic disease
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
According to the WHO, nutrition plays a critical role in health and development. Better nutrition is related to improved infant, child, and maternal health; a stronger immune system; safer pregnancy and childbirth; a lower risk of non-communicable diseases (such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease); and longevity.
Food represents a complex combination of numerous components that can be classified into nutrients (macro- and micro-) and non-nutrients. These food components likely work together to drive metabolic processes in every cell of the body, and many studies have been conducted with the aim of deepening our knowledge of the genetic, epigenetic, and molecular mechanisms of food components and how they affect our health, reinforcing our awareness that good nutrition promotes good health.
There are many variables influencing human nutritional status, so different research perspectives can be studied to deepen our understanding of nutritional science, from molecular nutrition to consumer choice, as well as food, functional foods, bioactive compounds, health status, and disease. These perspectives collectively provide information for the design of interventions to promote optimal nutrition.
In recent years, functional foods have gained popularity within health and wellness circles. Also known as nutraceuticals, functional foods are highly nutritious and associated with a number of powerful health benefits when consumed on a regular basis and at certain levels. A functional food can be a natural food or a food containing one or more specific components (bioactive molecules); these components can be added to, removed from, or naturally enhanced or modified in food to provide health benefits, mainly for early development and growth, the regulation of metabolic processes, defence against oxidative stress, and cardiovascular and gastrointestinal physiology.
Finally, bioactive molecules are present in small amounts in food items, and their effects on human health are continuously being investigated. Epidemiological data indicate that a high intake of natural functional foods, such as specific fruits and vegetables rich in bioactive compounds, is associated with decreased risk of chronic diseases.
Based on the above, this Special Issue aims to address molecular nutrition using a multidisciplinary approach from the perspective of human nutrition, the mechanisms of metabolic regulation, and the interaction between organisms and food, as well as physiology and food-related diseases. Therefore, researchers are invited to contribute original research papers or reviews to this Special Issue of Molecules that discuss the abovementioned topics.
Dr. Eugenia Venneria
Dr. Federica Intorre
Dr. Raffaella Comitato
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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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. Molecules 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 2700 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
- food
- nutrition
- human health
- functional foods
- bioactive molecules
- food products
- nutraceutics
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Related Special Issue
- Functional Foods and Dietary Bioactives in Human Health in Molecules (11 articles)
