Health Benefiting Components of Plants and Fungi

Dear Colleagues,

There is a growing interest in natural remedies in the developed world and a wealth of indigenous knowledge in less developed nations where traditions were kept strong. At the same time, the internet and scientific literature is being swamped with medicinal and health claims around foods and herbal and microbial extracts. Much of the information on the internet is confusing and not based on good science. Many scientific papers take traditional uses and relate them to compounds and extracts using in vitro assay data, without likely in vivo benefits. While plants and microorganisms contain a vast diversity of molecules, and many have potential as therapies, identifying which are the beneficial compounds and which might be detrimental or not specific or stable enough to have a significant effect in the body is not often straightforward. This Special Issue aims to consider only those molecules with activities that really are well substantiated and will try to correct common misunderstandings on benefits of natural compounds often claimed to be good for almost everything. The issue will also consider where the big opportunities are for discovering new medicines from plants for pharmaceutical development and the best ways of finding them.

Prof. Dr. Robert J. Nash
Guest Editor

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• natural compounds and extracts
• pharmaceutical development
• in vitro
• in vivo
• new medicines
• plants
• fungi