Natural Products and Dietary Supplements in Weight Loss: Metabolomic Perspectives

Dear Colleagues,

The World Health Organization reports a staggering rise in global obesity rates worldwide, nearly tripling since 1975. Today, approximately 2 billion adults are now classified as either overweight or obese. This epidemic is intricately linked to numerous health ailments, including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus, joint disorders, and certain cancers. As we strive to address these health challenges, interventions ranging from dietary and lifestyle adjustments to bariatric surgery (Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or gastric banding) and medicated weight loss drugs (GLP-1 receptor agonists) have become increasingly prevalent.

Notably, low-calorie dietary approaches, such as intermittent fasting and caloric restriction, supplemented with natural products rich in bioactive compounds like polyphenols, herbs, or specified metabolite regulators, have gained traction for their purported health benefits. While these approaches primarily target changes in body weight and composition, exploring their broader effects on cardiometabolic health and other physiological systems is crucial. Furthermore, the impact of weight loss interventions on the plasma metabolome, shaped by dietary, environmental, and pathophysiological processes, including obesity, warrants thorough investigation.

Metabolomics, whether through targeted or untargeted analyses, holds promise in unraveling the intricate relationship between health and disease by providing insights into metabolic changes induced by interventions. This Special Issue aims to identify, characterize, and elucidate the potential efficacy and underlying mechanisms of natural products or dietary supplements in the context of weight loss, with a particular emphasis on metabolomics.

We invite original clinical or pre-clinical research, methods papers, and comprehensive reviews that advance our understanding of these complex relationships.

Dr. Eric Gumpricht
Dr. Alex E. Mohr
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metabolites is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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.

• metabolomics
• weight loss
• fat loss
• nutraceuticals
• obesity
• natural products
• dietary sup-plements
• phytochemicals