Metabolic Insights into Natural Health Products and Dietary Supplements for Human Health

Dear Colleagues,

Natural health products and dietary supplements are increasingly recognized for their potential to support human health and prevent disease. These products, often derived from plants, encompass a wide range of compounds, including vitamins, minerals, herbal extracts, and functional foods. Understanding the metabolic pathways and mechanisms through these natural health products to exert their effects is crucial for validating their benefits, optimizing their use and ensuring safety.

Up to 85% of peoples, according to the WHO, use herbs and other substances from their traditional medical systems for their primary care. Although herbs from traditional European sources have been the most popular in commercial dietary supplements, agents from traditional systems have gained in popularity. These herbs are components from traditional systems such as Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine, Ayurveda, Traditional African Medicine, Japanese Kampo and herbs used by other indigenous people. In accordance with the recent WHO declaration on Traditional Medicine, this issue will also focus on substances from traditional sources.

This Special Issue aims to explore the metabolic insights into natural health products, dietary supplements, and botanicals derived from Traditional Medical Systems, focusing on their biochemical interactions, physiological impacts, and therapeutic potentials.

Objectives and Aims:

• Mechanistic Understanding: This includes studying absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) processes, as well as identifying bioactive metabolites.
• Health Benefits and Efficacy: This can encompass their potential roles in disease prevention, management, and overall health promotion. Studies may include clinical trials (both human and animal), observational studies, meta-analyses, but also preliminary in-vitro research.
• Safety and Toxicology: Understanding adverse interactions, dosage thresholds, effects of technologies enhancing absorption on safety, and long-term impacts is essential for recommending safe and effective use.
• Bioavailability and Pharmacokinetics: This includes studying how different formulations, delivery systems, and individual variations (e.g., genetics, age, gender) may influence the effectiveness of these products.
• Synergistic Effects: Examine the synergistic interactions between different natural health products, dietary supplements, and conventional medications.

We invite researchers, clinicians, and industry experts to contribute original research articles, reviews, and case studies that provide new insights into the metabolic effects of natural health products and dietary supplements. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Metabolic profiling of natural health products
• Clinical trials assessing health outcomes
• Mechanistic studies on bioactive compounds
• Safety and toxicology assessments
• Innovations in supplement formulation and delivery

Dr. Julia Solnier
Dr. Mary Hardy
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. Metabolites is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2700 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.

• bioactive natural compounds
• traditional medicine
• metabolic pathways
• absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME)
• clinical efficacy
• pharmacokinetics
• nutritional supplements
• health benefits
• safety and toxicology
• delivery systems