Ischemic stroke ranks among the primary contributors to mortality and prolonged disability globally, representing a significant public health challenge. Some clinical drugs for the treatment of ischemic stroke have significant side effects. Therefore, exploring effective therapeutic strategies is crucial. Some dietary natural products, such as fruits, vegetables, teas, herbs, nuts, probiotics and prebiotics, exert potential neuroprotective effects on ischemic stroke. The underlying mechanisms of action include suppressing oxidative stress, inhibiting inflammation, alleviating excitotoxicity, promoting angiogenesis, protecting blood–brain barrier, regulating gut microbiota, attenuating apoptosis, inhibiting autophagy, suppressing platelet aggregation and thrombosis, and improving mitochondrial function. This review mainly summarizes recent advancements in the potential therapeutic effects and mechanisms of dietary natural products on ischemic stroke. Additionally, it highlights future research directions, including the synergistic effects of combining dietary natural products, as well as the incorporation of nanotechnology to enhance bioavailability and targeted delivery. Overall, this review provides a useful reference for the application of dietary natural products in the prevention and management of ischemic stroke.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a rapidly escalating global health crisis with limited effective treatments. Emerging research underscores the pivotal role of the microbiota–gut–brain axis in AD pathogenesis, prompting the exploration into gut microbiota-targeted interventions. This narrative review aimed to comprehensively synthesize the latest epidemiological, experimental, and clinical evidence regarding the effects and mechanisms of probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, and postbiotics (PPSPs) in AD prevention and management. We conducted a narrative review of relevant literature from the Web of Science and PubMed databases. The search focused on articles published within the last 5 years using keywords such as “Alzheimer’s disease”, “AD”, “gut-brain axis”, “gut microbiota”, “probiotics”, “prebiotics”, “synbiotics”, and “postbiotics”. The findings suggest that PPSPs mitigate AD pathology and improve cognitive performance by modulating gut microbiota, strengthening intestinal barrier integrity, decreasing amyloid-beta (Aβ) deposition and tau hyperphosphorylation, reducing neuroinflammation and oxidative stress, regulating neurotransmitter metabolism, and promoting synaptic plasticity. Some studies also report varied outcomes, attributable to factors like strain specificity, dosage, intervention duration, patient heterogeneity, and methodological differences. In conclusion, targeting the microbiota–gut–brain axis with PPSPs offers a promising, mechanism-based strategy for AD, though further research is essential to optimize specific interventions for clinical application.

Cognitive function plays a crucial role in daily life, independence, and overall quality of life.[1] Severe cognitive impairment can progress to dementia, which affected over 57 million individuals...

Different pitaya cultivars (Selenicereus undatus) have unique aroma characteristics. For example, the “Vietnamese White Heart” pitaya fruit exhibits a distinct “herbaceous aroma”, while the new variety “Yuehong No. 6” exhibits a “fruity aroma”, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to characterize and compare the developmental changes in volatile organic compound (VOC) profiles between two pitaya cultivars at 25, 30, and 35 days after flowering (DAF), using GC × GC-TOF-MS combined with relative odor activity value (ROAV) analysis. The results show that the ROAVs of 2-pentylfuran and (E)-2-octenal increased progressively in “Vietnamese White Heart” but decreased during development in “Yuehong No. 6”. Although their ROAVs were higher in “Yuehong No. 6” at 25 and 30 DAF, this pattern was reversed at 35 DAF. At 35 DAF, 2-undecanone also showed a higher ROAV in “Vietnamese White Heart”, whereas 2-dodecenal showed a higher ROAV in “Yuehong No. 6”. This study reveals cultivar-dependent developmental trajectories of several potentially aroma-relevant VOCs, and provides a basis for future flavor-oriented molecular breeding, harvest timing optimization and fruit processing.