Plant-Based Foods and Their Bioactive Components: Effects on Cardiometabolic Disorders and Related Molecular Mechanisms

Dear Colleagues, 

Cardiometabolic disorders, such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and certain types of cancers, are a significant global health concern, which require multi-faceted management approaches, such as individual lifestyle and dietary changes as well as innovative prevention and treatment strategies.

Plant-based foods, such as fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, spices, wine, and certain functional plants, contain numerous bioactive components such as phytochemicals (e.g., polyphenols), vitamins, polysaccharides, dietary fibers, and bioactive peptides, which have been demonstrated to exhibit versatile bioactivities such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hypotensive, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, anti-obesity, anti-diabetic, and anti-cancer properties. It is essential to prompt research on the potential roles of plant-based foods and their bioactive components in the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic disorders.

The molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of plant-based foods and their bioactive components on cardiometabolic disorders are complex and multifaceted, involving metabolic pathway modulation, gene expression regulation, oxidative stress and inflammation inhibition, insulin sensitivity improvement, and gut microbiota modulation, among others.

This Special Issue welcomes authors to submit original research articles or reviews addressing the health impacts of plant-based foods and their bioactive components on cardiometabolic disorders. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of plant-based foods and their bioactive components;
• Effects and underlying mechanisms of plant-based food bioactive components on glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, insulin sensitivity, and cancer cells;
• Health impacts of plant-based foods and their bioactive components on body weight regulation and obesity management;
• Synergistic effects of plant-based foods in the management of cardiometabolic disorders;
• The interaction of plant-based foods or their bioactive components with the gut microbiome and related health impacts on cardiometabolic disorders;
• Clinical trials evaluating the cardiometabolic benefits of plant-based foods or their bioactive components.

Dr. Ren-You Gan
Dr. Hongyan Liu
Prof. Dr. Liang Zeng
Prof. Dr. Dingtao Wu
Dr. Danyue Zhao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 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.

• fruit and vegetables
• grains and legumes
• dietary bioactive compounds
• phytochemicals
• flavonoids
• polysaccharides
• cardiometabolic disorders
• cancer
• gut microbiome