The Functional Foods: New Trends and Perspectives

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: closed (30 September 2024) | Viewed by 3549

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences (DEB), Tuscia University, Largo dell’Università snc, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Interests: omega-3 fatty acids; food science; nutrition; biochemistry; functional foods; food security
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, there has been a growing trend towards functional foods in the food and beverage industry. These foods and beverages are those with additional health benefits beyond basic nutrition. They are designed to promote health as well as prevent disease and are increasingly popular among consumers who are looking for healthier options. Furthermore, in recent years these foods have been gaining acceptance not only for prevention but also as adjuvants for some therapies. Indeed, functional foods are receiving increasing levels of interest not only in prevention but as part of therapy for either very common pathologies, such as diabetes or intestinal pathologies, but also for less common pathologies, called rare disorders. In this Special Issue, we therefore want to collect both research papers and reviews that take stock of this important aspect of nutrition and can provide inputs for understanding what the new aspects and perspectives in this important innovative area of nutrition are.

Dr. Nicolò Merendino
Guest Editor

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

  • human nutrition 
  • functional foods 
  • food supplements
  • foods science 
  • human health 
  • non-transmissible pathology 
  • diabetes 
  • prebiotic 
  • antioxidants

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.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

16 pages, 2866 KiB  
Article
Doenjang Ameliorates Diet-Induced Hyperlipidemia and Hepatic Oxidative Damage by Improving Lipid Metabolism, Oxidative Stress, and Inflammation in ICR Mice
by Olivet Chiamaka Edward, Do-Youn Jeong, Hee-Jong Yang, Anna Han and Youn-Soo Cha
Foods 2024, 13(10), 1471; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13101471 - 10 May 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1356
Abstract
Hyperlipidemia, characterized by elevated cholesterol, lipids, and triglycerides in the bloodstream, is linked to hepatic oxidative damage. Doenjang, a traditional Korean condiment made from fermented soybeans, is known for its health benefits, yet its anti-hyperlipidemic effects remain understudied. Our study aimed to [...] Read more.
Hyperlipidemia, characterized by elevated cholesterol, lipids, and triglycerides in the bloodstream, is linked to hepatic oxidative damage. Doenjang, a traditional Korean condiment made from fermented soybeans, is known for its health benefits, yet its anti-hyperlipidemic effects remain understudied. Our study aimed to assess the hypolipidemic and hepatic protective effects of Doenjang on male ICR mice fed a high-fat cholesterol diet for 8 weeks. Mice were divided into three groups: the normal diet (ND), the high-fat cholesterol diet (HD), and the Doenjang-supplemented HD diet (DS) group. Doenjang supplementation significantly regulated total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol levels compared to the HD group. It also downregulated lipogenic genes, including PPARγ, FAS, and ACC, and positively influenced the cholesterol metabolism-related genes HMGCR and LXR. Moreover, Doenjang intake increased serum glutathione levels, activated oxidative stress defense genes (NRF2, SOD, GPx1, and CAT), positively modulated inflammation genes (NF-kB and IL6) in hepatic tissue, and reduced malondialdehyde levels. Our findings highlight the effectiveness of traditional Doenjang in preventing diet-induced hyperlipidemia and protecting against hepatic oxidative damage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Functional Foods: New Trends and Perspectives)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

32 pages, 3635 KiB  
Review
A Comprehensive Overview of Postbiotics with a Special Focus on Discovery Techniques and Clinical Applications
by Anand Kumar, Katelyn M. Green and Manmeet Rawat
Foods 2024, 13(18), 2937; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13182937 - 17 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1480
Abstract
The increasing interest in postbiotics, a term gaining recognition alongside probiotics and prebiotics, aligns with a growing number of clinical trials demonstrating positive outcomes for specific conditions. Postbiotics present several advantages, including safety, extended shelf life, ease of administration, absence of risk, and [...] Read more.
The increasing interest in postbiotics, a term gaining recognition alongside probiotics and prebiotics, aligns with a growing number of clinical trials demonstrating positive outcomes for specific conditions. Postbiotics present several advantages, including safety, extended shelf life, ease of administration, absence of risk, and patentability, making them more appealing than probiotics alone. This review covers various aspects, starting with an introduction, terminology, classification of postbiotics, and brief mechanisms of action. It emphasizes microbial metabolomics as the initial step in discovering novel postbiotics. Commonly employed techniques such as NMR, GC-MS, and LC-MS are briefly outlined, along with their application principles and limitations in microbial metabolomics. The review also examines existing research where these techniques were used to identify, isolate, and characterize postbiotics derived from different microbial sources. The discovery section concludes by highlighting challenges and future directions to enhance postbiotic discovery. In the second half of the review, we delve deeper into numerous published postbiotic clinical trials to date. We provide brief overviews of system-specific trial applications, their objectives, the postbiotics tested, and their outcomes. The review concludes by highlighting ongoing applications of postbiotics in extended clinical trials, offering a comprehensive overview of the current landscape in this evolving field. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Functional Foods: New Trends and Perspectives)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop