Nutritional Bio-Active Compounds and Their Structural Modifications for Functional Foods

In nature, various physiologically active substances that delay aging or prevent various adult diseases through antioxidant, immune function enhancement and regulation, hormone regulation, antibacterial or antiviral action can be found. Information on such nutraceutical content through instrumental analysis can be used for research related to disease indicators for maintaining proper human nutritional status. In addition, based on the content information of specific nutraceuticals, industries can select optimal food raw materials and develop various functional food products that meet the needs of consumers through the most efficient extraction and purification scheme. Furthermore, nutraceutical derivatives with adjusted physicochemical properties can be prepared through structural modification using chemical or enzymatic methods after increasing purity, which can be used as an alternative medicine to alleviate and prevent diseases.

Due to the development of advanced analytical instruments capable of more accurate and trace-level analysis, there is a continuous need to study the content of various types of nutraceuticals contained in various food materials. In particular, food materials are composed by very complex components and are bound to each other. Therefore, it is necessary to develop novel, more efficient extraction and concentration methods from various food matrices. Furthermore, the development of a purification process that is more efficient than the existing purification methods, such as column chromatography, for nutraceuticals with different physical properties is important for industrial use. The structure of nutraceuticals affects the solubility and other physicochemical properties as well as the biochemical efficacy in the human body. It is also possible to regulate the rate of the digestive process in the human body and increase the absorption rate by chemically or enzymatically changing the structure with specific intentions. In addition, the industry needs to develop various dosage forms such as gels, nanoparticles, liposomes, and microemulsions, requiring the delivery of nutraceuticals into the body for various purposes. In the future, by controlling the release rate of nutraceuticals by applying the drug delivery system currently used in the pharmaceutical industry, the problems of low bioavailability, slow absorption, or excessively rapid excretion can be reduced.

In this Research Topic, we welcome original articles, including, but not limited to, original research articles and reviews covering, but not limited to, the following subtopics:

1. Scientific information (identification, etc.) about nutraceuticals present in nature, structural changes of innate nutraceuticals through enzyme or chemical methods, and efficient separation methods to increase purity.

2.Chemical and enzymatic synthesis of nutraceuticals derivatives with modified the physicochemical properties (polarity, melting point, etc.), including new and improved synthetic routes.

3.Delivery systems of nutraceuticals into the body for various purposes to overcome low bioavailability, slow absorption, or excessively rapid excretion

4. Application of nutritional bio-active compounds and their modified derivatives to functional foods as physiologically active compounds for anti-inflammation, cellular defense, and disease prevention.

Keywords: Nutraceutical, Structural Transformation, Delivery Carrier, Cellular Pathways, Mechanism of Action, Novel Process, Development

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