Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are accelerated by the negative impact of globalization and impose enormous human, social, and economic costs. Historically, strategies to prevent and treat communicable diseases have been a priority in many countries. This prioritization has reduced the burden of communicable diseases worldwide, but has resulted in noncommunicable diseases being largely neglected. The WHO estimates that NCDs account for 80% of the global disease burden and approximately 71% of all deaths are due to NCDs. Plants and microorganisms have the ability to produce a wide variety of bioactive molecules with therapeutic potential. They remain a leading source of novel bioactive molecules that are critical to drug discovery and biotech development. In this context, on 27th November 2023, we launched our Research Topic and invited researchers to engage in articles on natural products (molecules/extracts) with interesting biological activities related to non-communicable diseases. Frontiers in Chemistry published 4 contributions to the Research Topic, involving 35 authors from 9 countries. This editorial summarizes these articles in the following sections and we believe they will appeal to a broad readership in the field.

Inflammation is a biological response of the immune system to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants (Aghasafari et al., 2019). It is a complex process aiming to remove the offending agent and repair any tissue damage (Liu et al., 2021). However, if inflammation persists or becomes chronic, it can lead to impaired function, and various diseases, such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, or cancer (Furman et al., 2019). Therefore, controlling and balancing inflammation is important for maintaining health and preventing chronic conditions. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is a crucial enzyme that catalyzes the rate-limiting stages in the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins (Cao and Prescott, 2002). The most often prescribed drugs now for the treatment of inflammatory illnesses by targeting COX-2 are both traditional and modern NSAIDs (Everts et al., 2000). However, because of the NSAIDs' negative cardiovascular side effects it is of utmost important to find new safer and effective anti-inflammatory agents (Desai et al.,