Bioactive Components from Agro-Food By-Products and Their Potential Health Benefits
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Nutrition".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 April 2026 | Viewed by 53
Special Issue Editors
Interests: dietary fiber; structural characterization; chemical modification; quality evaluation; metabolic disorders; gut microbiota
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: food authentication; polyphenol; MS-based metabolomics; functional food; chemometrics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Significant quantities of agro-food by-products, particularly fruit, vegetable, and cereal by-products, are generated throughout the entire food supply chain. Discarding these materials incurs substantial environmental and economic costs while resulting in the loss of valuable nutrients and bioactive components. Recycling them is therefore essential to mitigate these impacts and promote a sustainable food system. Agro-food by-products are recognized as rich sources of dietary bioactive components, including polyphenols, polysaccharides, proteins, and peptides, which demonstrate potential health benefits in vitro and in vivo. Consequently, these bioactives are being increasingly utilized across various industries, including cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and the food sector. In terms of functional food production, the objective is to repurpose by-products into novel foods or health-enhancing additives.
Recently, several studies have been published regarding the valorization of agro-food by-products towards bioactive components. These studies have focused on their chemical and nutritional composition, highlighting their abundance of bioactive components and describing several bioactivities. Thus, this topic focuses on the extraction and characterization of bioactive components from agro-food by-products, their health benefits, and their potential applications in the sustainable food system.
We welcome authors to submit research articles, perspectives, and review articles that focus on the following topics, but are not limited to:
- Novel techniques for the extraction of bioactive compounds from agro-food by-products;
- Identification and characterization of bioactive compounds from agro-food by-products;
- Biological activities of dietary bioactive compounds from agro-food;
- Development and application of dietary bioactive components from agro-food by-products in the sustainable food system;
- Production of sustainable health foods with dietary bioactive compounds from agro-food by-products.
Prof. Dr. Dingtao Wu
Dr. Hongyan Liu
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. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 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.
Keywords
- agro-food by-products
- dietary polyphenols
- dietary polysaccharides
- health benefits
- sustainable food system
- functional food application
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
