Bioactive Compounds in Functional Foods: Mechanisms, Efficacy, and Future Directions
A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Phytochemicals and Human Health".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 November 2026 | Viewed by 218
Special Issue Editors
Interests: nutritional epidemiology; multi-omics; gut microbes; vitamins; phytochemicals
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: phytochemicals; cancer nutrition; nutrient; disease nutrition; radiation injury
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Functional foods have attracted growing attention for their potential to promote health and reduce the risk of chronic diseases beyond basic nutrition. A wide range of bioactive compounds derived from natural food sources—including polyphenols, peptides, polysaccharides, and other metabolites—have been shown to exert diverse biological activities, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and metabolic regulatory effects. With advances in analytical and biological technologies, increasing efforts have been devoted to elucidating the mechanisms and health effects of these compounds.
This Special Issue aims to provide updated insights into the identification, mechanisms, and health implications of bioactive compounds in functional foods. A better understanding of these complex relationships will help translate scientific findings into practical nutritional strategies and support the development of functional foods.
We invite original research articles and reviews that explore the roles of bioactive compounds in functional foods. Topics include, but are not limited to, their molecular mechanisms and biological functions, interactions with gut microbiota, roles in metabolic regulation and chronic disease prevention, and emerging analytical and multi-omics approaches that advance the understanding of their efficacy and health-promoting effects. Studies based exclusively on database mining or computational prediction without experimental, clinical, or population-based evidence are generally not considered within the scope of this Special Issue, whereas studies involving human cohort data or epidemiological analyses are welcome.
Dr. Weiwei Cui
Dr. Fang Fang
Dr. Tianlin Gao
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- bioactive compounds
- functional foods
- bioactive peptides
- vitamins
- polyphenols
- gut microbiota
- mechanisms
- nutritional efficacy
- precision nutrition
- disease prevention
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