Medicine and food homology theory describes the herbs that can be consumed as food and/or medicine. Specifically, various foods that possess medicinal functions are known as medical and food dual-purpose herbs. In our daily diet, apart from 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 medical and food dual-purpose 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 both as food and medicinal herbs. However, there are still two major questions remaining 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 standardized, well-prepared herbal extracts, as well as understanding the action mechanisms of their biological functions. Here, we especially welcome original research articles (in silico, in vitro, and in vivo) and review articles that will extend effort to understand their standardization approaches and action mechanisms.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

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