Healthy Foods and Dietary Patterns in Modern Consumer

According to the ancient Greek philosophers, “we are what we eat”. Actually, the World Health Organization recognizes obesity and overweight, even in young people or pediatric population, as a serious public health problems, reaching epidemic proportions all over the world (the "new pandemic of the twenty first century”). On the other side, the topic of nutritional deficiencies in relation to locally available foods and their ability to meet nutrient requirements has been recently highlighted by the scientific community as a threat for low income countries. It is noteworthy that food and the way we eat are a major determinant of our health, influencing the physiological regulation of human body, determining possible intolerances, metabolic diseases, allergies, impaired absorption of micronutrients, cardiovascular or systemic disfunctions, etc.
This explains the increasing interests of general public towards health properties of food and labeling regulations able to foster informed nutritional choices in the perspective of modern consumer-friendly policies. Some foods and nutritional models or diets have been even directly associated to health benefits in the frame of individual commitment towards health, as well as to environmental sustainability within a “One Health” perspective. This special issue on Nutrition and Health is aimed at stimulating researchers and scientists working in different fields of bio-medical or nutritional sciences as well as in the agri-food research sector or environment and health and epidemiology at contributing to generate evidence on these topics, with particular focus on the relation between food and health conditions (i.e. metabolic syndrome, diabetes, obesity, cancer, cardiovascular, gastro-enteric or neurodegenerative/neurological and kidney diseases). Besides clinical research, we welcome also papers addressing issues related to nutrigenomics, functional foods, food contamination by pesticides or other chemicals. Original Research Articles, as well as epidemiological surveys are solicited; systematic reviews, meta-analyses, original research articles, short articles or commentaries are welcome and expected to add relevant information to the current knowledge.