About this Research Topic

Background

Food is known to drive states of both health and disease and much research to date focuses on a limited amount of nutrients and their direct regulation of health status. However, systemic health is driven by a series of biological processes that occur at the cellular level. These are highly dependent on cellular health and efficiency. For instance, cellular energy production is influenced by the rate of autophagy and antioxidant capacity, and greatly impacts the rate of cellular aging.

Beyond the direct regulation of health status by specific nutritional components, much work has started exploring the way in which food is metabolized and operates at the level of the cell. Food bioactives present in the diet but also microbiome metabolites are increasingly gaining the interest of the scientific community exploring cellular health. The USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference currently contains data on 7,793 food items and up to 150 food components. However, these nutritional components represent only a small fraction of what we know to be more than 26,000 distinct, definable biochemicals present in our food. In addition, the metabolism of food by the intestinal microbiome produces more than 44,000 compounds which also elicit biological functions. The modulating effect of diet on cellular health represents the combined effects of all its bioactives and metabolites. So how do different diets, their nutrients, bioactive, and metabolites affect cellular health and aging?

Nutrition is part of a larger lifestyle context including physical activity, sleep, and other factors. Physical activity was shown to influence cellular health by counteracting several aging processes known as the hallmarks of aging. Other lifestyle factors such as sleep, smoking, and life stressors are believed to affect aging. How does physical activity, sleep, and other lifestyle factors impact cellular health? And how does this translate into cellular longevity and healthy aging? This research topic aims to communicate the latest evidence-based knowledge on how nutrition and lifestyle can promote functional longevity by promoting cellular health. This includes but is not limited to the following themes with a focus on nutrition:

- The effect of bioactive compounds and metabolites on cellular biological processes involved in longevity
- The effect of different diets on cellular health and biomarkers of health and aging
- The role of the microbiome in cellular health and aging
- Nutrient sensing and other mechanisms that explain the role of food on aging
- Nutrition and physical activity: role in cellular aging pathways
- The relationship between nutrition, sleep quality, and cellular health
- Nutritional and lifestyle solutions for healthy aging targeting cellular health

Keywords: Food, Cellular health, Nutrition, Aging, Longevity

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