Is there any relationship between plant nutrition and human health? The overall response to this question is very positive, and a strong relationship between the nutrition of plants and humans has been reported in the literature. The nutritional status of edible plants consumed by humans can have a negative or positive impact on human health. This review was designed to assess the importance of plant bioactive compounds for human health under the umbrella of sustainable agriculture. With respect to the first research question, it was found that plant bioactives (e.g., alkaloids, carotenoids, flavonoids, phenolics, and terpenoids) have a crucial role in human health due to their therapeutic benefits, and their potentiality depends on several factors, including botanical, environmental, and clinical attributes. Plant bioactives could be produced using plant tissue culture tools (as a kind of agro-biotechnological method), especially in cases of underexploited or endangered plants. Bioactive production of plants depends on many factors, especially climate change (heat stress, drought, UV radiation, ozone, and elevated CO₂), environmental pollution, and problematic soils (degraded, saline/alkaline, waterlogged, etc.). Under the previously mentioned stresses, in reviewing the literature, a positive or negative association was found depending on the kinds of stress or bioactives and their attributes. The observed correlation between plant bioactives and stress (or growth factors) might explain the importance of these bioactives for human health. Their accumulation in stressed plants can increase their tolerance to stress and their therapeutic roles. The results of this study are in keeping with previous observational studies, which confirmed that the human nutrition might start from edible plants and their bioactive contents, which are consumed by humans. This review is the first report that analyzes this previously observed relationship using pictorial presentation.

Mushrooms have always been an important source of food, with high nutritional value and medicinal attributes. With the use of biotechnological applications, mushrooms have gained further attention as a source of healthy food and bioenergy. This review presents different biotechnological applications and explores how these can support global food, energy, and water security. It highlights mushroom’s relevance to meet the sustainable development goals of the UN. This review also discusses mushroom farming and its requirements. The biotechnology review includes sections on how to use mushrooms in producing nanoparticles, bioenergy, and bioactive compounds, as well as how to use mushrooms in bioremediation. The different applications are discussed under the water, energy, and food (WEF) nexus. As far as we know, this is the first report on mushroom biotechnology and its relationships to the WEF nexus. Finally, the review valorizes mushroom biotechnology and suggests different possibilities for mushroom farming integration.

Soil is a real treasure that humans cannot live without. Therefore, it is very important to sustain and conserve soils to guarantee food, fiber, fuel, and other human necessities. Healthy or high-quality soils that include adequate fertility, diverse ecosystems, and good physical properties are important to allow soil to produce healthy food in support of human health. When a soil suffers from degradation, the soil’s productivity decreases. Soil restoration refers to the reversal of degradational processes. This study is a pictorial review on the nano-restoration of soil to return its fertility. Restoring soil fertility for zero hunger and restoration of degraded soils are also discussed. Sustainable production of nanoparticles using plants and microbes is part of the process of soil nano-restoration. The nexus of nanoparticle–plant–microbe (NPM) is a crucial issue for soil fertility. This nexus itself has several internal interactions or relationships, which control the bioavailability of nutrients, agrochemicals, or pollutants for cultivated plants. The NPM nexus is also controlled by many factors that are related to soil fertility and its restoration. This is the first photographic review on nano-restoration to return and sustain soil fertility. However, several additional open questions need to be answered and will be discussed in this work.

Plant-based foods offer a sustainable alternative to meet the growing protein demand. Legumes are the most promising of these, as they contain relatively high concentrations of protein, low digestible starch, and dietary fiber, as well as them possibly featuring low levels of fat. Enzymatically modified legume proteins provide us with tempting perspectives in terms of enhancing foods’ biological values. However, their bioavailability and digestibility are generally less sufficient than that of proteins of animal origin, which may be improved by well-tailored enzyme modification. In this study, the efficacy of three plant-based proteases (bromelain, ficin, and papain) were evaluated at two distinct concentrations (2.5% and 10%) and three hydrolysis durations (1, 2, and 12 h) when transforming chickpea and lentil proteins. The degree of hydrolysis (DH), peptide profiles, and free amino acid content were analyzed to determine the efficiency of each enzyme. Results showed significant variations in DH, which was influenced by enzyme type, concentration, and hydrolysis duration. Papain exhibited the highest DH, particularly at a 10% concentration, reaching 27.8% efficiency in chickpea and 34.8% in lentils after 12 h. Bromelain and ficin were proven to be less effective, with ficin showing the least hydrolytic activity. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed substantial protein degradation, especially subsequent to papain treatment, pointing out that most proteins were cleaved into smaller peptides. SEC-HPLC indicated a predominant release of peptides within the 200–1000 Da range, suggesting enhanced bioavailability. Papain and bromelain treatments resulted in a significant release of oligopeptides and dipeptides. UHPLC analysis highlighted a marked post-hydrolysis increase in total free amino acids, with arginine, leucine, and lysine being the most abundant ones. Notably, tryptophan, being undetectable in untreated samples, was released in measurable amounts post-hydrolysis. These findings demonstrate papain’s superior performance in protein hydrolysis and its potential in producing bioactive peptides, highlighting its applicability in food processing and the development of both nutraceuticals and functional foods.

Fungi are the most diverse living organisms on planet Earth, where their ubiquitous presence in various ecosystems offers vast potential for the research and discovery of new, naturally occurring medicinal products. Concerning human health, cancer remains one of the leading causes of mortality. While extensive research is being conducted on treatments and their efficacy in various stages of cancer, finding cytotoxic drugs that target tumor cells with no/less toxicity toward normal tissue is a significant challenge. In addition, traditional cancer treatments continue to suffer from chemical resistance. Fortunately, the cytotoxic properties of several natural products derived from various microorganisms, including fungi, are now well-established. The current review aims to extract and consolidate the findings of various scientific studies that identified fungi-derived bioactive metabolites with antitumor (anticancer) properties. The antitumor secondary metabolites identified from extremophilic and extremotolerant fungi are grouped according to their biological activity and type. It became evident that the significance of these compounds, with their medicinal properties and their potential application in cancer treatment, is tremendous. Furthermore, the utilization of omics tools, analysis, and genome mining technology to identify the novel metabolites for targeted treatments is discussed. Through this review, we tried to accentuate the invaluable importance of fungi grown in extreme environments and the necessity of innovative research in discovering naturally occurring bioactive compounds for the development of novel cancer treatments.

The human blood sugar level is important and should be controlled to avoid any damage to nerves and blood vessels which could lead to heart disease and many other problems. Several market-available treatments for diabetes could be used, such as insulin therapy, synthetic drugs, herbal drugs, and transdermal patches, to help control blood sugar. In a double-blind human study, four kinds of honey from bees fed on acacia, sea buckthorn, chlorella alga, and green walnut extracts were used in fortifying yogurt for controlling human blood sugar. The impact of a previously fortified honey was investigated on blood levels and other parameters of healthy individuals in a human study with 60 participants. The participants received 150 mL of yogurt mixed with 30 g of honey every morning for 21 days. Before and after the study period, the basic blood parameters were tested, and the participants filled out standardized self-report questionnaires. Acacia honey was the traditional honey used as a control; the special honey products were produced by the patented technology. The consumption of green walnut honey had a significant effect on the morning blood sugar level, which decreased for every participant in the group (15 people). The average blood sugar level at the beginning in the walnut group was 4.81 mmol L⁻¹, whereas the value after 21 days was 3.73 mmol L⁻¹. The total decrease level of the individuals was about 22.45% (1.08 mmol L⁻¹). Concerning the sea buckthorn and chlorella alga-based honey product groups, there was no significant change in the blood sugar level, which were recorded at 4.91 and 5.28 mmol L⁻¹ before treatment and 5.28 and 5.07 mmol L⁻¹ after, respectively. In the case of the acacia honey group, there was a slight significant decrease as well, it was 4.77 mmol L⁻¹ at the beginning and 4.27 mmol L⁻¹ at the end with a total decrease rate of 10.48%. It could thus be concluded that the active ingredients of green walnut can significantly decrease the blood sugar level in humans. This study, as a first report, is not only a new innovative process to add herbs or healthy active ingredients to honey but also shows how these beneficial ingredients aid the honey in controlling the human blood sugar level.