Bioactive/Nutraceutical Compounds in Plant Foods
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutraceuticals, Functional Foods, and Novel Foods".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 August 2024 | Viewed by 89443
Special Issue Editors
Interests: bio-based ingredients; stabilization of natural additives; functional foods; extraction optimization; food science and technology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: natural bioactive compounds; medicinal chemistry; bioactivity and toxicology; functional applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Since ancient times, plants have been used by several cultures around the world in traditional medicine due to their therapeutical effects. Plants are widely explored for their bioactive/nutraceutical features. Given their huge diversity of powerful molecules, their industrial exploitation, and successful applicability, this research is considered a global hot topic in the current days. As well described in the literature, these properties are attributed to the presence of specific compounds (phenolic compounds, alkaloids, carotenoids, phytosterols, and terpenes among others). Owing to their specific features, such as functional groups in their chemical structure, they can provide numerous biological properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, hypocholesterolemic, anti-diabetic, and cytotoxic, among others. The scientific community has developed high performance technologies to extract, isolate, stabilize, and evaluate the biological properties of different plant species. The main applications of these ingredients in the food industry rely on the functionalization of foodstuffs, in the replacement of artificial additives for natural ones, and also in the development of nutraceuticals. These ingredients are applied as highly purified extracts taking advantage of synergistic effects among the present molecules, or as isolated compounds. Therefore, the development of new functional extracts/isolated compounds through the exploitation of plant matrices are of extreme importance to: i) act as bioactive agents in promoting well-being and health benefits; ii) acting as natural additives in alternatives to the artificial ones replying to the industries’ and consumer´s demands; iii) act as sources of nutritional ingredients, creating differentiated products with improved nutritional value.
This Special Issue “Bioactive/Nutraceutical Compounds in Plant Food” invites researchers to contribute original research or review articles that can fit in this main topic of plant bioactive compounds for food applications, including the obtainment of natural bioactive molecules through extraction optimization methodologies and isolation techniques; the chemical characterization of plant matrices; validation of these resources as functional ingredients through the bioactive analysis; stabilization (extracts or isolated compounds) and application in the food industry taking in mind the most recent trends and innovation features in the field.
Dr. Sandrina A. Heleno
Dr. Lillian Barros
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
- Natural plant ingredients
- Plant functional agents
- Nutraceuticals
- Extraction procedures
- Chemical characterization
- Stabilization techniques
- Functional foods
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