The theory of food and medicine homology describes the herbs that can be consumed as food and/or medicine. Specifically, various foods possessing medicinal functions are known as dual-purpose medical and food herbs. In our daily diet, in addition to the supply of essential nutrients, these types of foods can play a role in the therapeutic functions of our body, the effect of which can be obvious over a period of daily consumption.

Numerous dual-purpose medical and food herbs have been consumed for thousands of years and are still gaining influence in our daily life. Modern studies on their phytochemistry and biological activities have revealed their health benefits as both food and medicinal herbs. However, there are still two major questions that need to be addressed. First, the standardization of these herbs has not been well established. Second, despite clinical practice and several animal studies supporting their functions, the exact biological efficacy and molecular mechanism are still unclear.

This Special Issue aims to attract the latest studies on the chemical composition and health efficacy of medical and food dual-purpose herbs in developing the chemical parameters for well-prepared, standardized herbal extracts, as well as understanding the action mechanisms of their biological functions. Here, we especially welcome original research articles and review articles that will extend efforts to understand their standardization approaches and action mechanisms. Manuscripts reporting the activity of medicinal extracts from sources that are not normally consumed as food will not be accepted for peer review. In addition, only in vivo experiments that use oral feeding (gavage in animals or food consumption in animals and humans) will be acceptable for peer review. Manuscripts where the active compound or extract is provided to animals through extraoral routes (i.p., i.m., subcutaneous, etc.) are not acceptable and will be rejected without peer review. The manuscript must use a mechanistic approach to explain the activity of the bioactive properties of the food-derived sample.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Well-established standardized references for dual-purpose medicinal herbs and food
• Comparison of the chemical composition of dual purpose medical and food herbs in different harvest seasons, in different geographical regions, and after post-harvest treatments
• Biological functions and mechanisms of dual-purpose medical and food herbs
• Optimization of extraction and properties of active ingredients from dual-purpose medical and food herbs
• Toxicity assessment of dual-purpose medical and food herbs