Impact of Phytochemicals on the Gastrointestinal Tract—Implications for Innovative Nutraceutical and Functional Food Development

Dear Colleagues,

Many plants have a long history of empiric use to treat gastrointestinal ailments, including nausea and emesis, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, among others. One interesting case is Cannabis sativa, which, in addition to hundreds of psychotropic and non-psychotropic phytocannabinoids (with different ratios in the different botanical varieties), contains many other interesting phytochemicals. Phytocannabinoids exert their actions through the modulation of the endocannabinoid system, which is broadly distributed in the gastrointestinal tract. However, the full spectrum of pharmacological actions on the gastrointestinal tract of Cannabis phytochemicals (isolated or in combination) is far from clear. Furthermore, gastrointestinal effects of these compounds may be modulated by actions on the brain (brain–gut axis), the immune system (immune–gut axis) or the endocrine system (endocrine–gut axis), among others. Phytochemicals found in Cannabis, their synthetic or semisynthetic analogues and other cannabinoid-like molecules (such as palmitoylethanolamide) may modify gastrointestinal tract functions and interfere with nutrition (improving or making it more difficult). Furthermore, many of the compounds found in the plant can be considered nutraceuticals and can thus be used for the development of new functional foods able to prevent or improve gastrointestinal symptoms.

Cannabis sativa is just one example of the many plants that can offer interesting molecules for the treatment of gastrointestinal and gut–brain conditions.

This Special Issue aims to collect original studies, reviews and meta-analyses that may help to fully understand the impact of Cannabis-derived products and extracts, phytocannabinoids, and other phytochemicals in Cannabis, as well as those from other plants on the gastrointestinal tract functions and dysfunctions. We hope this Special Issue will provide new information to help design better, holistic, balanced, and robust nutraceutical approaches for gastrointestinal conditions.

Prof. Dr. Raquel Abalo
Guest Editor

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• bowel
• brain–gut axis
• cannabis
• cannabinoids
• endocannabinoids
• endocrine–gut axis
• gastrointestinal tract
• immune–gut axis
• gut
• phytocannabinoids
• stomach