Integrating Food Chemistry and Nutritional Evaluation for Healthy Eating Across Diverse Populations

Plant-based foods represent a vast reservoir of nutritional and cultural heritage worldwide, continuing to shape dietary practices, health outcomes, and food innovation across regions. Decades of research in food chemistry have revealed an extraordinary diversity of bioactive compounds and phytochemicals in traditional and regional crops, many of which remain underused or insufficiently characterized. While scientific advances have deepened our understanding of food composition, bioaccessibility, and antioxidant capacity, a significant challenge lies in translating these biochemical insights into public health outcomes that reflect real dietary patterns across different cultural and geographic contexts.This Research Topic aims to link the chemical and functional properties of traditional and emerging plant foods with their nutritional and health impacts across diverse populations worldwide. By combining evidence from food science, human nutrition, and public health, the Topic will explore how bioactive compounds and food matrices contribute to well-being and disease prevention. Key objectives include identifying the nutritional potential of regional and traditional crops, evaluating their role in balanced diets, and examining how processing and preparation affect nutrient quality and functional outcomes. This collection also seeks to bridge laboratory analysis with community-based nutritional assessment, fostering translation of scientific data into culturally grounded dietary recommendations, with regional case studies welcome as illustrative contributions.This Research Topic focuses on the interface between food chemistry, nutritional science, and health promotion across diverse population contexts, with an emphasis on culturally relevant and regionally adapted foods. To gather further insights in this domain, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:o Chemical composition, phytochemical profiling, and antioxidant potential of traditional and underused plant foodso Effects of processing, cooking, and storage on nutrient and phytochemical stabilityo Bioavailability, bioaccessibility, and metabolic impacts of bioactive compoundso Dietary intake assessment, nutritional status, and food habits among different population groupso Anthropometric, biochemical, and functional biomarkers linked to plant-based dietso Nutrition education interventions promoting culturally relevant healthy eating practiceso Community-based participatory research linking local foods with health and sustainability outcomesThis Research Topic welcomes a broad range of contributions that reflect the multidisciplinary nature of the field. Suitable article types include Original Research, Review, Mini Review, Systematic Review, Brief Research Report, Policy and Practice Review, and Perspective articles. Topic editors: Israel Lopez-Reyes, Silvia Laura Guzmán-Gutiérrez, Laura Itzel Quintas-Granados, Rocio Gómez Cansino Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81477/integrating-food-chemistry-and-nutritional-evaluation-for-healthy-eating-across-diverse-populations