In the last few decades, the vast potential of nanomaterials for biomedical and healthcare applications has been extensively investigated. Several case studies demonstrated that nanomaterials can offer solutions to the current challenges of raw materials in the biomedical and healthcare fields. This review describes the different nanoparticles and nanostructured material synthesis approaches and presents some emerging biomedical, healthcare, and agro-food applications. This review focuses on various nanomaterial types (e.g., spherical, nanorods, nanotubes, nanosheets, nanofibers, core-shell, and mesoporous) that can be synthesized from different raw materials and their emerging applications in bioimaging, biosensing, drug delivery, tissue engineering, antimicrobial, and agro-foods. Depending on their morphology (e.g., size, aspect ratio, geometry, porosity), nanomaterials can be used as formulation modifiers, moisturizers, nanofillers, additives, membranes, and films. As toxicological assessment depends on sizes and morphologies, stringent regulation is needed from the testing of efficient nanomaterials dosages. The challenges and perspectives for an industrial breakthrough of nanomaterials are related to the optimization of production and processing conditions.

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Xanthohumol (XH) is an important prenylated flavonoid that is found within the inflorescence of Humulus lupulus L. (Hop plant). XH is an important ingredient in beer and is considered a significant bioactive agent due to its diverse medicinal applications, which include anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, antiviral, antifungal, antigenotoxic, antiangiogenic, and antimalarial effects as well as strong anticancer activity towards various types of cancer cells. XH acts as a wide ranging chemopreventive and anticancer agent, and its isomer, 8-prenylnaringenin, is a phytoestrogen with strong estrogenic activity. The present review focuses on the bioactivity of XH on various types of cancers and its pharmacokinetics. In this paper, we first highlight, in brief, the history and use of hops and then the chemistry and structure–activity relationship of XH. Lastly, we focus on its prominent effects and mechanisms of action on various cancers and its possible use in cancer prevention and treatment. Considering the limited number of available reviews on this subject, our goal is to provide a complete and detailed understanding of the anticancer effects of XH against different cancers.

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Nanomaterials are materials with one or more nanoscale dimensions (internal or external) (i.e., 1 to 100 nm). The nanomaterial shape, size, porosity, surface chemistry, and composition are controlled at the nanoscale, and this offers interesting properties compared with bulk materials. This review describes how nanomaterials are classified, their fabrication, functionalization techniques, and growth-controlled mechanisms. First, the history of nanomaterials is summarized and then the different classification methods, based on their dimensionality (0–3D), composition (carbon, inorganic, organic, and hybrids), origin (natural, incidental, engineered, bioinspired), crystal phase (single phase, multiphase), and dispersion state (dispersed or aggregated), are presented. Then, the synthesis methods are discussed and classified in function of the starting material (bottom-up and top-down), reaction phase (gas, plasma, liquid, and solid), and nature of the dispersing forces (mechanical, physical, chemical, physicochemical, and biological). Finally, the challenges in synthesizing nanomaterials for research and commercial use are highlighted.

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