Pesticides are chemical constituents used to prevent or control pests, including insects, rodents, fungi, weeds, and other unwanted organisms. Despite their advantages in crop production and disease management, the use of pesticides poses significant hazards to the environment and public health. Pesticide elements have now perpetually entered our atmosphere and subsequently contaminated water, food, and soil, leading to health threats ranging from acute to chronic toxicities. Pesticides can cause acute toxicity if a high dose is inhaled, ingested, or comes into contact with the skin or eyes, while prolonged or recurrent exposure to pesticides leads to chronic toxicity. Pesticides produce different types of toxicity, for instance, neurotoxicity, mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, teratogenicity, and endocrine disruption. The toxicity of a pesticide formulation may depend on the specific active ingredient and the presence of synergistic or inert compounds that can enhance or modify its toxicity. Safety concerns are the need of the hour to control contemporary pesticide-induced health hazards. The effectiveness and implementation of the current legislature in providing ample protection for human health and the environment are key concerns. This review explored a comprehensive summary of pesticides regarding their updated impacts on human health and advanced safety concerns with legislation. Implementing regulations, proper training, and education can help mitigate the negative impacts of pesticide use and promote safer and more sustainable agricultural practices.

There are more than 30 species of Glycyrrhiza genus extensively spread worldwide. It was the most prescribed herb in Ancient Egyptian, Roman, Greek, East China, and the West from the Former Han era. There are various beneficial effects of licorice root extracts, such as treating throat infections, tuberculosis, respiratory, liver diseases, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and immunodeficiency. On the other hand, traditional medicines are getting the attraction to treat many diseases. Therefore, it is vital to screen the medicinal plants to find the potential of new compounds to treat chronic diseases such as respiratory, cardiovascular, anticancer, hepatoprotective, etc. This work comprehensively reviews ethnopharmacological uses, phytochemistry, biological activities, clinical evidence, and the toxicology of licorice, which will serve as a resource for future clinical and fundamental studies. An attempt has been made to establish the pharmacological effect of licorice in different diseases. In addition, the focus of this review article is on the molecular mechanism of licorice extracts and their four flavonoids (isoliquiritigenin, liquiritigenin, lichalocone, and glabridin) pharmacologic activities. Licorice could be a natural alternative for current therapy to exterminate new emerging disorders with mild side effects. This review will provide systematic insights into this ancient drug for further development and clinical use.

Food safety is a rising challenge worldwide due to the expanding population and the need to produce food to feed the growing population. At the same time, pesticide residues found in high concentrations in fresh agriculture pose a significant threat to food safety. Presently, crop output is being increased by applying herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, pesticides, fertilizers, nematicides, and soil amendments. A combination of factors, including bioaccumulation, widespread usage, selective toxicity, and stability, make pesticides among the most toxic compounds polluting the environment. They are especially harmful in vegetables and fruits because people are exposed to them. Thus, it is critical to monitor pesticide levels in fruits and vegetables using all analytical techniques available. Any evaluation of the condition of pesticide contamination in fruits and vegetables necessitates knowledge of maximum residue levels (MRLs). We set out the problems in determining various types of pesticides in vegetables and fruits, including the complexity and the diversity of matrices in biological materials. This review examines the different analytical techniques to determine the target analytes that must be isolated before final consumption. Many processes involved determining pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables and their advantages and disadvantages have been discussed with recommendations. Furthermore, MRLs of target pesticide residues in fruit and vegetable samples are discussed in the context of data from the literature. The review also examines MRLs’ impact on the international trade of fruits and vegetables. Accurate, sensitive, and robust analytical procedures are critical to ensuring that pesticide levels in food products are effectively regulated. Despite advances in detection technology, effective sample preparation procedures for pesticide residue measurement in cereals and feedstuffs are still needed. In addition, these methods must be compatible with current analytical techniques. Multi-residue approaches that cover a wide range of pesticides are desired, even though pesticides’ diverse natures, classes, and physio-chemical characteristics make such methods challenging to assemble. This review will be valuable to food analysts and regulatory authorities to monitor the quality and safety of fresh food products.

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), mainly produced by gut microbiota through the fermentation process of dietary fibers and proteins, are crucial to human health, with butyrate, a famous four-carbon SCFA, standing out for its inevitably regulatory impact on both gut and immune functions. Within this narrative review, the vital physiological functions of SCFAs were examined, with emphasis on butyrate’s role as an energy source for colonocytes and its ability to enhance the gut barrier while exhibiting anti-inflammatory effects. Knowledge of butyrate synthesis, primarily generated by Firmicutes bacteria, can be influenced by diets with specifically high contents of resistant starches and fiber. Butyrate can inhibit histone deacetylase, modulate gene expression, influence immune functionality, and regulate tight junction integrity, supporting the idea of its role in gut barrier preservation. Butyrate possesses systemic anti-inflammatory properties, particularly, its capacity to reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines and maintain immune homeostasis, highlighting its therapeutic potential in managing dysbiosis and inflammatory diseases. Although butyrate absorption into circulation is typically minimal, its broader health implications are substantial, especially regarding obesity and type 2 diabetes through its influence on metabolic regulation and inflammation. Furthermore, this narrative review thoroughly examines butyrate’s growing recognition as a modulator of neurological health via its interaction with the gut–brain axis. Additionally, butyrate’s neuroprotective effects are mediated through activation of specific G-protein-coupled receptors, such as FFAR3 and GPR109a, and inhibition of histone deacetylases (HDACs). Research indicates that butyrate can alleviate neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autism spectrum disorder, and Huntington’s disease, by reducing neuroinflammation, enhancing neurotransmitter modulation, and improving histone acetylation. This focus will help unlock its full therapeutic potential for metabolic and neurological health, rather than exclusively on its well-known benefits for gut health, as these are often interconnected.