About this Research Topic
Medicinal mushrooms and medicinal plants have been used for centuries as valuable sources of various bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, carotenoids, fibers, prebiotics, vitamins fatty acids, minerals, etc. Therefore, they are widely recognized as a remedy due to their health-promoting activities and/or treatment of various diseases. Further, due to antioxidant and antimicrobial effects, their application in foods might replace synthetic additives that are often shown as toxic to humans, helping in the improvement of food quality and shelf life.
For extraction of a mushroom/plant bioactive components and metabolites, techniques that can be applied will affect their yield, structure, and biological activities. To reach the best extraction efficiency of the target compound, extraction techniques have to be selected based on the chosen mushroom/plant type, physicochemical properties of the target component, type and concentration of solvent and interfering substances, while the extraction conditions have to be properly optimized (temperature, pH, pressure, extraction time). Further, application in functional foods or nutraceuticals includes design, optimization, and development of different formulations with bioactive components.
This Research Topic invites researchers to contribute by original research, case reports, and reviews that explore the innovative processes for obtaining bioactive compounds from medicinal mushrooms and medicinal plants with the potential to be applied as foods and nutraceuticals. Submissions may covered, but are not limited to:
• Traditional and green extraction technologies
• Innovative processing technologies for the development of functional foods and beverages
• Nutritional composition and biological activity of extracts
• Improvement of food and beverage quality and shelf life
• Health-promoting effects of nutraceuticals from plants and mushrooms
• Health-promoting effects of foods and beverages with medicinal plants and mushrooms
Keywords: medicinal mushrooms, Bioactive compounds, Medicinal plants, Extraction, Characterization, Functional foods, Functional beverages, Nutraceuticals
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.