Dear Colleagues,

Our previous Special Issues on “Natural Products: Biological-, Antioxidant Properties and Health Effects”, the first and second volumes, published in 2022 and 2023 in Antioxidants, received an overwhelming number of submissions and were successful compilations of research and review articles. As this is a rapidly evolving topic, we would like to further explore the biological and antioxidant roles of natural products, as well as their effects on animal and human health, with a follow-up Special Issue for the year 2024.

Many antioxidants with reducing and radical scavenging properties can be found in natural products, i.e., foods, feeds, and medicinal as well as aromatic plants. Such compounds that can mitigate oxidative damage include terpenoids, polyphenols, carbohydrates and derivatives, and components of essential oils. They act on redox-sensitive transcription factors to minimize oxidative stress in vivo by quenching radical species, peroxides, and promoters of oxidative processes.

According to research findings, adding naturally occurring antioxidant compounds to foods or animal feed can decrease oxidation, enhance overall product quality, and lengthen shelf life. Natural bioactive substances have also been the subject of recent research against pathogenic bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other attacking microbes that are resistant to traditional medications. These organisms pose a serious threat to human health and the world’s healthcare systems. Moreover, their supplementation might also lessen cellular oxidative stress, which is linked to inflammatory, neurological, and cardiovascular disorders, as well as some types of cancer.

Therefore, research on the bioactive components of natural products is always attractive, since they have such a wide range of beneficial effects. Furthermore, it is important to remember that waste materials and agricultural byproducts can also be valuable sources of antioxidants.

With great pleasure, we invite you to submit your research findings to this Special Issue (third volume), which aims to gather original research papers, reviews, clinical trials, and meta-analyses covering every facet of the biological properties, applications, and health effects of antioxidants derived from natural products. Articles pertaining to plant antioxidants and natural products that enhance antioxidant capacity via technological, agricultural, analytical, biochemical, molecular, or analytical approaches, as well as novel applications of antioxidants and antimicrobials in food and feed science, are especially encouraged.

Please note that in studies on complex mixtures of natural products, the characterization of chemicals using analytical methodologies, such as HPLC, MS, LC-MS, HPLC-MS, ICP-MS, and NMR, should be included.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Evangelos Zoidis
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• agricultural byproducts
• algae
• bioactive compounds
• cancer
• cardiovascular diseases
• essential oils
• inflammatory diseases
• marine organisms
• metabolic diseases
• oxidative stress
• phytochemicals
• polyphenols
• radical scavenging
• shelf life
• waste products