Interactions between Bioactive Phytochemicals and Gut Microbiota, and Their Influence on Metabolic Health

Dear Colleagues,

Phytochemicals are naturally occurring secondary metabolites ubiquitously present in foods of plant origin and medicinal herbs. They have been arousing sustained research interest due to their multifarious bioactivities and cost-effectiveness. Despite having tremendous medicinal values, many of them, e.g., polyphenols and terpenoids, show extremely poor intestinal absorptivity and bioavailability. In consequence, the majority of the orally ingested phytochemicals enter the colon where they encounter the gut microbiota and are bio-transformed into bioactive and bioavailable metabolites. On top of this, the precursor phytochemicals together with their microbial metabolites exert great impacts on the residential microbial community. Such complex and intriguing phytochemical–microbiota interactions concertedly exert profound impacts on multiple health domains of the host, especially the metabolic systems.

For this Special Issue, we invite the submission of research articles and reviews that focus on, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• The metabolic pathways of bioactive phytochemicals in vivo (particularly gut microbiota catabolic activities).
• The keystone/functional strains of gut microbiota responsible for the biotransformation of phytochemicals into bioactive metabolites.
• The interplay between bioactive phytochemicals and gut microbiota, and the associated effects on metabolic health.
• The causal relationship between gut microbiota and the bio-efficacy of phytochemicals in altering metabolic conditions and the underlying mechanisms.
• Dietary intervention strategies incorporating bioactive phytochemicals for improving metabolic health conditions.
• Translational applications of bioactive phytochemicals for enhancing resilience towards metabolic disorders via targeting the gut microbiota.
• Advanced omics techniques (metabolomics, proteomics, metagenomics, and transcriptomics) that help to dissect the phytochemical–microbiota interactions.
• Novel in vitro systems developed for exploring the phytochemical–microbiota interactions.

Dr. Danyue Zhao
Dr. Quancai Sun
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• phytochemical
• gut microbiota
• metabolism
• microbial metabolite
• bio-efficacy
• metabolic health
• multi-omics