Natural products have always been exploited to promote health and served as a valuable source for the discovery of new drugs. In this review, the great potential of natural compounds and medicinal plants for the treatment or prevention of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, global health problems with rising prevalence, is addressed. Special emphasis is laid on natural products for which efficacy and safety have already been proven and which are in clinical trials, as well as on plants used in traditional medicine. Potential benefits from certain dietary habits and dietary constituents, as well as common molecular targets of natural products, are also briefly discussed. A glimpse at the history of statins and biguanides, two prominent representatives of natural products (or their derivatives) in the fight against metabolic disease, is also included. The present review aims to serve as an "opening" of this special issue of Molecules, presenting key historical developments, recent advances, and future perspectives outlining the potential of natural products for prevention or therapy of cardiovascular and metabolic disease.

Department of Natural Drugs Faculty of Pharmacy University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno 612 42 Brno Czech Republic;

Department of Pharmaceutical Botany Iuliu Haţieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy 400012 Cluj Napoca Romania;

Department of Pharmacognosy University of Vienna 1090 Vienna Austria;

Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding of the Polish Academy of Sciences 05 552 Jastrzebiec Poland

Institute of Pharmacy Pharmacognosy and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck University of Innsbruck 6020 Innsbruck Austria;

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The Forty-Sixth Euro Congress on Drug Synthesis and Analysis: Snapshot †

The Eighth Central European Conference "Chemistry towards Biology": Snapshot