Functional Foods and Health Promotion

Dear Colleagues,

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Non communicable Diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases, kill 41 million people each year representing 74% of all deaths globally. A disease is considered chronic when the patient conditions require medical treatment and symptoms last for a year or more. NCDs are the result of the combination of non-modifiable and modifiable risk factors, among which are included poor nutrition or diets with low fruits and vegetables intake.

In this perspective the research and the study of new functional food is becoming more and more important every year, considering that they can be used to reduce and especially prevent NCDs improving the outcomes of patients. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) defines functional as “a food, which beneficially affects one or more target functions in the body, beyond adequate nutritional effects, in a way that is relevant to either an improved state of health and well-being and/or reduction of risk of disease”.

This special issue, “Functional Foods and Health Promotion”, is focused on the identification, development, and establishment of functional foods through the study of the biological mechanisms that food bioactive components can express, improving the patient's state of health. Moreover, the research of alternative approaches capable of reducing the high cost of NCDs in the health care system through the promotion of control and prevention is becoming an essential and successful long-term strategy.

For all the reasons cited above a wide range of articles are welcome, including in vitro and in vivo studies, which are essential to obtain new data for the future clinical trials. A particular attention will be dedicated to clinical studies, considering their support by convincing scientific data to the efficacy of new functional food. Finally, comprehensive reviews which can summarize important topics useful for the birth of new scientific studies.

Dr. Hammad Ullah
Dr. Marco Dacrema
Guest Editors

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• polyphenols
• health
• functional food
• prevention
• reduction of risk disease