About this Research Topic
Polyphenols, carotenoids, tocochromanols, alkaloids, terpenoids, iridoids, organosulfur- and nitrogen-contain compounds are the most studied phytochemicals occurring in nature. Altogether, these compounds compromise more than 5,000 different structures derived from plants that have demonstrated, through different mechanisms, health promoting effects. Different phytochemicals have been associated to the prevention and reduced risk to develop obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Such health promoting effects are attributed to their bioactive properties, including their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, anticancer activities, among many others. Noteworthy, to reach their biological target, phytochemicals consumed through the diet must be released from their matrix, withstand the gastrointestinal digestion and metabolization, and be absorbed through the intestinal lumen before reaching the bloodstream and finally being available to different tissues.
In the intestinal lumen, phytochemicals can reshape the gut microbiota, however, their metabolic impact can occur either short- or long-term depending on frequency, type of phytochemicals consumed, synergism between them, and the biologically-active metabolites derived from gut or liver metabolism. During the aging process changes in gut microbiota have been reported, and this dysbiosis has been associated with chronic disease, involving alterations in the gut-brain axis, gut-muscle axis, gut-liver axis, and so forth. In this sense, the role and underlying mechanisms by which phytochemicals act as regulators of gut microbiota to prevent and even treat chronic diseases need to be further explored.
Research articles to be published in this Research Topic should contribute to understanding the mechanisms through which phytochemicals reshape the gut microbiota and how it can impact diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, neurodegenerative, and mental health disease as well as their metabolic associated-disorders including insulin resistance, inflammation, oxidative stress, microbiota disturbance, sarcopenia and others.
We welcome original research and review articles for this Research Topic covering themes including but not limited to:
• The effects of food-derived phytochemicals (polyphenols, carotenoids, tocochromanols, alkaloids, terpenoids, iridoids, organosulfur- and nitrogen-contain compounds) with respect to metabolic disorders associated with chronic diseases such as insulin resistance, inflammation, oxidative stress, microbiota disturbance, sarcopenia, and so forth.
• Effects of gastrointestinal digestion and colonic fermentation on the content and composition of bioactive phytochemicals, their health-promoting effects, and their association with the shaping of the gut microbiota
• Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-obesity, anti-depressant and other protective properties of phytochemicals in influencing chronic disease
• The interactions between phytochemicals and gut microbiota, and the effect of these interactions on the host’s organs/tissues (liver, skeletal muscle, brain, vascular endothelium, and so forth) in the context of chronic disease
• Evaluation of bioactivity of phytochemicals by using in vitro/in vivo models, particularly with reference to studies involving the gut microbiota
In the intestinal lumen, phytochemicals can reshape the gut microbiota, however, their metabolic impact can occur either short- or long-term depending on frequency, type of phytochemicals consumed, synergism between them, and the biologically-active metabolites derived from gut or liver metabolism. During the aging process changes in gut microbiota have been reported, and this dysbiosis has been associated with chronic disease, involving alterations in the gut-brain axis, gut-muscle axis, gut-liver axis, and so forth. In this sense, the role and underlying mechanisms by which phytochemicals act as regulators of gut microbiota to prevent and even treat chronic diseases need to be further explored.
Research articles to be published in this Research Topic should contribute to understanding the mechanisms through which phytochemicals reshape the gut microbiota and how it can impact diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, neurodegenerative, and mental health disease as well as their metabolic associated-disorders including insulin resistance, inflammation, oxidative stress, microbiota disturbance, sarcopenia and others.
We welcome original research and review articles for this Research Topic covering themes including but not limited to:
• The effects of food-derived phytochemicals (polyphenols, carotenoids, tocochromanols, alkaloids, terpenoids, iridoids, organosulfur- and nitrogen-contain compounds) with respect to metabolic disorders associated with chronic diseases such as insulin resistance, inflammation, oxidative stress, microbiota disturbance, sarcopenia, and so forth.
• Effects of gastrointestinal digestion and colonic fermentation on the content and composition of bioactive phytochemicals, their health-promoting effects, and their association with the shaping of the gut microbiota
• Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-obesity, anti-depressant and other protective properties of phytochemicals in influencing chronic disease
• The interactions between phytochemicals and gut microbiota, and the effect of these interactions on the host’s organs/tissues (liver, skeletal muscle, brain, vascular endothelium, and so forth) in the context of chronic disease
• Evaluation of bioactivity of phytochemicals by using in vitro/in vivo models, particularly with reference to studies involving the gut microbiota
Keywords: phytochemicals, microbiome, microbiota, gut microbiome, phenolic compounds, gut microbiota, gut health, non-communicable disease, phytochemical, bioactive compounds, dietary bioactives
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
