Role of Nutrition in Human Health and Disease

Dear Colleagues,

Although foods and nutrients have been studied for centuries and the first food component recognized as functional, the thiamine, has been discovered and chemically defined nearly a century ago, the application of "nutritional science" to maintain health and fight disease is a surprisingly young discipline with potential applications that have yet to be fully defined.

For many decades indeed, researchers have pursued the strategy according to which, to achieve a complete understanding of nutrition, one should study the biochemical and physiological action of each chemicals present in food, and following define the mechanisms by which it protect/sustain a condition of well-being or, increase the risk for some disease. Thanks to this research strategy, also known as “reductionist approach”, nutritionists have successfully revealed the role played by vitamins, minerals, and other single nutrients in the homeostasis of human body and why their deficiencies and or excess lead to specific symptoms.

However, this “mechanistic strategy” has achieved little success in recent decades in terms of practical information in the set-up of efficient strategies targeting cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndromes and cancer. The reason for this likely lies in the great complexity of the human body that, with its 70 trillion cells each performing its respective function under an highly complex network of biological systems, make extraordinarily difficult the properly understand of the exact details of the pathways and molecular switches leading to disease. But, the poor success of mechanistic research applied to nutrition may also depend on the presence of thousands of separate substance and related metabolites that are conveyed in a single food and that may lead to a vast numbers of possible different interactions that rely on the genetic makeup of each individual.

Despite the increased awareness of the significant influence of diet on health, many of the basic mechanisms linking food intake to physiological consequences remain unexplained. Improved mechanistic understanding will be part of a broader, robust evidence base important for determining cause-effect relationships and developing healthier foods, optimising dietary guidelines, and establishing effective intervention strategies. There is therefore a need to explore and answer a variety of questions about the mechanisms by which dietary components influence biological processes and how these relationships affect health and disease.

This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances made in the field of genomic integrity, immune systems and inflammation that are useful to prevent the individual risk of developing cancer and metabolic syndromes as well as to provide help for the advancement of preventive and nutraceutical strategies with the assessment of novel effective molecular targets.

We encourage investigators interested in these topics to submit original research that emphasizes current preclinical and clinical insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of specific targets involved in the development, progression, or treatment of non-communicable diseases. Manuscripts should address cutting-edge biology and physiology to provide new insights into the role of foods and nutrients in physiological and pathophysiological systems. Experimental medical approaches and human studies that provide opportunities for "back translation" into basic research are also within the scope. We welcome proposals aimed at improving the understanding of the physiological and pathological processes by which dietary patterns and/or food components influence health at the cellular, systemic and whole-body levels (in humans or in model systems, as appropriate). Moreover, critically and systematically, review articles, covering the related research, providing concluding remarks and an outlook, will be considered for inclusion in this Special Issue.

Dr. Marika Massaro
Prof. Dr. Fabrizio Damiano
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• metabolic disease
• cancer
• cardiovascular disease
• liver disease
• osteoarthritis
• DNA damage
• inflammation
• epigenetic
• biomarkers
• macro- and micro-nutrients
• phytochemicals
• dietary pattern
• new targets for treatment