Dietary Supplements in Human Health and Disease

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Phytochemicals and Human Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 July 2024 | Viewed by 2380

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienza e Tecnologia del Farmaco, University of Turin, Via Pietro Giuria 9, 10125 Turin, Italy
Interests: type 2 diabetes; inflammation; insulin resistance; NLRP3 inflammasome
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienza e Tecnologia del Farmaco, University of Turin, Via Pietro Giuria 9, 10125 Turin, Italy
Interests: NLRP3 inflammasome; inflammation; cancer; antiproliferative activity; herbal drugs

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Dietary supplements represent a broad range of products, including vitamins and minerals, plants and herbal extracts, amino acids, enzymes, essential fatty acids, fiber, or any combination thereof. They are administered orally and marketed in dose forms (such as pills, capsules, powders, liquids, and bars). Their worldwide use is mainly aimed to correct nutritional deficiencies or maintain an adequate intake of certain nutrients.

Unlike drugs, dietary supplements are not intended to treat, diagnose, or cure diseases. However, it is known that they may support specific physiological body functions preserving human health. Their beneficial effects associated with their low toxicity profile and easy accessibility for the general population make their consumption very popular, which is consistently increasing in both healthy and disease conditions. Nevertheless, evidence about specific mechanisms underlying their beneficial effects is lacking.

In addition, poor attention is dedicated to the side effects that they can induce due to the interactions with conventional medications. This is an underestimated point that deserves more attention.

This Special Issue will focus on the latest advances in dietary supplements. Particularly welcome will be high-quality evidence on the following: (i) the potential role of dietary supplements in human health or disease, including conditions affected by unhealthy diets and lifestyles, such as dyslipidemia, diabetes, obesity, and inflammatory conditions, focusing the attention on the properties and mechanisms that could underlie their effects; (ii) the interaction between dietary supplements and conventional drugs.

This Special Issue of Nutrients entitled “Dietary Supplements in Human Health and Disease” welcomes original research and reviews of the literature concerning this important topic.

Dr. Elisa Benetti
Dr. Valentina Boscaro
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • dietary supplements
  • nutraceuticals
  • vitamins
  • minerals
  • botanicals
  • herbs
  • human health
  • inflammation
  • diseases

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

14 pages, 3725 KiB  
Article
Purple Corn Extract Improves Dry Eye Symptoms in Models Induced by Desiccating Stress and Extraorbital Lacrimal Gland Excision
by Jae-Min Lee, Arin Choi, Hee-Hwan Lee, Sang Jae Park and Byung-Hak Kim
Nutrients 2023, 15(24), 5063; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15245063 - 11 Dec 2023
Viewed by 884
Abstract
Dry eye disease (DED) occurs when there are not enough tears, and the associated symptoms—burns, itching, and a gritty feeling in the eye—can cause great discomfort. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of purple corn extract (PCE) on [...] Read more.
Dry eye disease (DED) occurs when there are not enough tears, and the associated symptoms—burns, itching, and a gritty feeling in the eye—can cause great discomfort. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of purple corn extract (PCE) on DED. Pretreatment with PCE prevented desiccation-stress-induced cell damage in human retinal pigment epithelial cells and primary human corneal epithelial cells. Furthermore, PCE reduced the mRNA expression of inflammatory mediators in the induction of desiccation stress. The therapeutic effects of PCE on DED were evaluated in an animal model with induced unilateral excision of the exorbital lacrimal gland. The administration of PCE was effective at recovering tear production, corneal surface irregularity, and conjunctival goblet cell density, as well as at reducing apoptotic cell death in the outer layer of the corneal epithelium. Collectively, PCE improved dry eye symptoms, and, therefore, it could be a potential agent to ameliorate and/or treat DED. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dietary Supplements in Human Health and Disease)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

12 pages, 1727 KiB  
Article
Euscaphis japonica Kanitz Fruit Exerts Antiobesity Effects by Inhibiting the Early Stage of Adipogenic Differentiation
by Eunbi Lee, Juhye Park and Ju-Ock Nam
Nutrients 2023, 15(14), 3078; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15143078 - 08 Jul 2023
Viewed by 965
Abstract
During the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak, there was an increase in the prevalence of obesity, including childhood obesity, due to which the awareness of obesity and interest in treatment increased. Accordingly, we describe EJF (Euscaphis japonica Kanitz fruit) extract as a candidate for [...] Read more.
During the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak, there was an increase in the prevalence of obesity, including childhood obesity, due to which the awareness of obesity and interest in treatment increased. Accordingly, we describe EJF (Euscaphis japonica Kanitz fruit) extract as a candidate for naturally derived antiobesity agents. In this study, we found that EJF is involved in the early stage of adipogenic differentiation in vitro and finally inhibits adipogenesis. We propose two mechanisms for the antiobesity effect of EJF. First, EJF inhibits MDI-induced mitotic clonal expansion (MCE) by inducing cell cycle arrest at the initiation of adipogenic differentiation. The second aims to regulate stability and activation at the protein level of IRS1, which initiates differentiation in the early stage of differentiation. As a result, it was found that the activation of Akt decreased, leading to the inhibition of the expression of adipogenesis-related transcription factors (PPARγ, C/EBPα) and the subsequent suppression of adipogenic differentiation. In summary, we suggest that EJF can inhibit adipogenesis and lipid accumulation by suppressing the early stage of adipogenic differentiation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. These findings indicate that EJF’s functionality could be beneficial in the treatment of obesity, particularly childhood obesity associated with adipocyte hyperplasia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dietary Supplements in Human Health and Disease)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop