Sustainable Nanostructured Soft-Matter Food Systems for Stable and Bioavailable Omega Fatty Acids and Bioactive Lipids

Sustainable food systems are increasingly advancing through the use of soft-matter architectures -such as liposomes, emulsions, oleogels, hydrogels, and colloids - that protect, stabilize, and deliver sensitive bioactives like omega fatty acids. Designing nanostructured, food-grade materials grants precise control over interfacial properties, texture, release kinetics, and oxidative stability. However, polyunsaturated lipids remain particularly prone to degradation during processing, storage, and gastrointestinal digestion, resulting in reduced bioaccessibility and nutritional efficacy. Simultaneously, recent studies highlight the important role of omega fatty acid delivery in downstream biological processes, including their conversion into specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) and the regulation of immunometabolic pathways relevant to systemic and neuroinflammatory health. Bridging innovative soft-matter designs with robust translational bioactivity metrics can drive progress toward sustainable, functional formulations that maximize stability, bioavailability, and health impacts of omega fatty acids and other bioactive lipids.

This Research Topic aims to advance the development of sustainable, nanostructured soft-matter systems that improve the stability, targeted delivery, and bioavailability of omega fatty acids and other bioactive lipids, while linking these advances to clear measures of biological efficacy. We welcome work on plant-based and alternative sources of omega fatty acids (algal, microbial, seed, and by-product streams), the design of food-grade soft matter and colloidal systems, and innovative processing approaches - including green extraction, mild encapsulation, structuring, and scalable manufacturing - that enhance the functionality and sustainability of omega-rich foods. We encourage studies that design edible matrices (proteins, polysaccharides, Pickering interfaces, and gel networks) to limit oxidation and tune release profiles, and that rigorously quantify digestion, absorption, and uptake of nutraceuticals using best-practice models. Contributions connecting delivery formats to functional biological outcomes - such as SPM generation (resolvins, protectins, maresins), modulation of immunometabolic pathways (IRG1/itaconate axis, Th17/Treg balance, microglial metabolism), and shifts in relevant biomarkers - remain especially welcome. Integrated approaches using metabolomics, metabolipidomics, high-sensitivity biomarker assays, and artificial intelligence or machine learning to map formulation parameters to bioactivity are strongly encouraged. By directly linking soft-matter food physics with translational outcomes, this Topic seeks to highlight sustainable solutions that deliver both improved stability and meaningful health benefits.

We invite original research articles, reviews, perspectives, short communications, and methods papers focused on:

-Sustainable delivery systems for bioactive lipids, including the design, self-assembly, rheology, oxidative stability, and controlled release of omega fatty acids in soft-matter food systems;
-Plant-based and alternative sources of omega fatty acids (e.g., algal, microbial, seed oils, agri-food side streams) and their incorporation into functional formulations;
-Food-grade soft matter and colloidal systems, including nanostructured emulsions, oleogels, hydrogels, liposomes, and Pickering systems, with a focus on nanoencapsulation and nanoengineering;
-Lipid oxidation and stability during processing, storage, and digestion, including mechanistic studies, antioxidant strategies, and interfacial design;
-Bioaccessibility and bioavailability of nutraceuticals, using standardized in vitro digestion models (e.g., INFOGEST) alongside relevant in vivo or ex vivo efficacy readouts;
-Innovative and sustainable processing approaches (green extraction, mild encapsulation, structuring, scalable manufacturing) that enhance the functionality and sustainability of omega-rich food systems;
-Bioconversion of omega fatty acids into SPMs and the impact of advanced delivery systems on immunometabolic and neuroinflammatory pathways and related biomarkers;
-Integration of AI/ML models that connect formulation descriptors with data from multi-omic and functional bioactivity analyses.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Omega fatty acids, nanoencapsulation, oxidative stability, bioavailability, bioactive lipids, sustainable delivery systems, food-grade soft matter, colloidal systems, nanostructured emulsions and gels, lipid oxidation and stability, bioaccessibility, nutraceuticals, sustainable food processing

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.