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The Intervention and Regulatory Potential of Natural Active Substances in Foods on Chronic Diseases

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition and Metabolism".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2025 | Viewed by 567

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
Interests: non-thermal processing of food; food allergens and safety control; nutrition and health regulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
Interests: food safety; thermal processing; formation mechanism; mitigation strategies; food-born hazardous
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural active substances in foods include not only essential substances in organisms, such as proteins and fats, but also various secondary metabolites, such as glycosides, tannic acids, flavonoids, alkaloids, or pigments found in plants; microbial metabolites, such as sugar peptides, peptides, or various organic acids; and animal peptides extracted from animal tissues (such as bones, skin, or cartilage). Research has found that natural active substances show various biological activities, including anti-tumor, anti-oxidant, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, blood-sugar-lowering, blood-lipid-lowering, anti-bacterial, immune-enhancing, obesity-improving, and cardiovascular-disease-reducing functions, suggesting that natural active substances are important pharmaceutical raw materials and offer great potential in the medical, healthcare, and biopharmaceutical fields. Common chronic diseases, including asthma, heart disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, malignant tumors, and mental health disorders, are difficult to treat. Used alongside corresponding drug treatments, dietary interventions to improve foods, such as by incorporating rich, natural active substances, can serve as an effective means of preventing/alleviating chronic diseases.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Foods.

Dr. Fangyu Long
Dr. Guangxu Ren
Dr. Yuchen Zhu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • natural active substances
  • chronic diseases
  • metabolite
  • animal peptide
  • asthma
  • hypertension
  • diabetes
  • obesity
  • mental health disorders

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 6476 KiB  
Article
Sugarcane Molasses Polyphenol Extract Attenuates Alcohol-Induced Chronic Liver Damage via Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, and CYP2E1/Keap1/NF-κB Pathway Modulation
by Min Wang, Lin Zhao, Yumei Wang, Chengfeng Zhang and He Li
Nutrients 2025, 17(9), 1589; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17091589 - 5 May 2025
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Abstract
Background/Objective: The prevention and treatment of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) urgently require safe and effective nutritional intervention strategies. Polyphenol extracts from sugarcane molasses (SP) show antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential, yet their protective effects against ALD have not been elucidated. This study explored the [...] Read more.
Background/Objective: The prevention and treatment of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) urgently require safe and effective nutritional intervention strategies. Polyphenol extracts from sugarcane molasses (SP) show antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential, yet their protective effects against ALD have not been elucidated. This study explored the therapeutic potential of SP in alcohol-induced chronic liver damage. Methods: A graded alcohol concentration-induced liver damage model was established in C57BL/6J mice to systematically evaluate SP’s regulatory effects on liver function markers, lipid metabolism, oxidative stress indicators, inflammatory factors, and related molecular mechanisms through a 10-week nutritional intervention. Results: The results demonstrated that SP intervention significantly inhibited the liver index, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities, and triglyceride and total cholesterol accumulation in mice. SP enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities in a dose-dependent manner, with the high-dose group increasing catalase activity by 161.19% and superoxide dismutase activity by 22.97%. Furthermore, SP significantly reduced the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α, thereby alleviating hepatic inflammatory infiltration. Mechanistic studies revealed that SP effectively mitigated alcohol-induced oxidative stress and inflammatory injury by inhibiting cytochrome P450 2E1 overexpression, regulating the Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 signaling pathway, and suppressing nuclear factor-kappa B pathway activation. Conclusions: The findings reveal that SP mitigates ALD via synergistic antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms, providing a novel strategy for high-value utilization of sugarcane molasses byproducts in agricultural industries. Future studies should focus on the contribution of the different phenolics in SP and validate their specific hepatoprotective mechanisms. Full article
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