Recent Advances in Bioactive Compounds for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals

Dear Colleagues,

The world is currently facing the dual challenges of undernutrition and overnutrition. As a result, the overall metabolic and lifestyle-linked disease burden has profoundly increased. This compels us to rethink food beyond nutrition and include health-balancing and promoting ingredients in our routine diets. Plant-based food provides a range of such ingredients, which include bioactive compounds such as polyphenols, phytosterols, carotenoids, curcuminoids, and so on. In addition, omega-3 fatty acids, dietary fibers, vitamins, essential amino acids, and minerals are some other health-promoting and pharmacologically active ingredients that are generally categorized as nutraceuticals.

Exploring the quality, bioavailability, efficacy, and safety of bioactive compounds and nutraceuticals is a key area of current research interest. Recent research progress in the above-mentioned areas of functional food and bioactives is constantly advancing with recent developments in analytical tools, especially in chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. Hence, capturing these recent advances is becoming valuable in advancing interdisciplinary research in this area. The goal of this Special Issue is to collect recent research highlights and reviews associated with plant bioactives, nutraceuticals, and functional foods. Submissions related to the chemistry of plant bioactives, nutritional biochemistry, and analytical method development are welcome.

Dr. Zhentian Lei
Dr. Deepak M. Kasote
Guest Editors

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• mass spectrometry
• metabolomics
• plant interactions
• natural products
• food nutraceuticals and nutrients