New strategies from natural materials to fight against diet-induced metabolic disorders (Part-ii)

According to the global statistics, the incidence of metabolic syndrome (MetS), which is a multifactorial disease with multiple risk fac-tors, has reached nearly one-quarter of the population, and poses a serious threat to public health. MetS is a cluster of conditions characterized by insulin resistance, hypertension, obesity, and cardiovascular-related risk factors. Various aspects, such as modern lifestyle (diet, sedentary behav-ior), aging and genes attribute to increasing the morbidity of MetS. While external interventions, prescribed drugs and natural materials play an indispensable role in the management of MetS. Intake of plant-based bioactive compounds and peptide-based drug delivery systems emerge as safe and effective pharmacological approaches to treat MetS complications. Natural biomaterials are able to decrease the adverse effects of drugs and enhance treatment efficiency. In this thematic issue, we explored the beneficial effects of various phytochemicals, marine drugs and cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs)-mediated drug delivery system in the management of MetS and associated disorders. The usage of CPPs in combination with other therapeutic agents like nanoparticles and peptides is a novel and efficient approach to conquer the components in MetS.