The Processing and Function of Natural Compounds and Nutraceuticals from Foods

Dear Colleagues,

It is my privilege to invite you to contribute to a new and very targeted Special Issue of " The Processing and Function of Nutraceuticals from Foods". In recent years, the food industry has been interested in uncovering health benefits of ingredients in functional foods and nutraceuticals. For instance, these ingredients include fibre, phytosterols, peptides, proteins, isoflavones, saponins, phytic acid, probiotics, prebiotics, and functional enzymes. Despite significant progress in the identification, extraction, and characterization, concerns on quality and safety issues as well as their health claims, there is still a need for the substantial technological advances made in nano-microencapsulation that protect the bioactivity and enhance the solubility and bioavailability, and the preservation of health-promoting bioactive components in functional food products and nutraceuticals. This Special Issue is dedicated entirely to focus on the efficient utilization of food supplements or ingredients in food systems and what can be done to address challenges in certain food sectors (such as health claims and their targeted transport to specific tissue). The main goal of this Special Issue is to cover new and innovative technologies in the processing of functional foods and nutraceuticals that have potential for health benefits and their use in a global and interdisciplinary perspective.  We also welcome descriptions of the main food sources but also emerging ones (i.e., food wastes, unconventional foods, novel food sources, recovery from side- or by-products of the food system) with a view to sustainable, environmentally friendly recovery for the development and promotion of novel nutraceuticals and functional foods. The Special Issue would also invite contributions addressing mechanisms of action connected to possible interactions with physiological processes or with other molecules, as well as the potential protective effects in model studies in vitro and in cell models and animal studies to optimize delivery and appropriate formulation.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Physicochemical characterization and simulation in extraction processes
• Impact of processing on the bioactivity of neutraceutical ingredients in foods
• Innovative nanotechnological advances in food preservation, and increased solubility and bioavailibty of health promoting bioactive compounds as well as targeted release for delivery of bioactive components
• Current and emerging trends in sustainable and environmental-friendly technological interventions to formulate and develop health foods from agricultural byproducts and enlarge their industrial scope
• Harnessing novel health ingredients and their in vitro and in vivo manifestaions

Prof. Dr. Zhaojun Wei
Dr. Jinhu Tian
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-anonymized 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.