Graphical Abstract

Public Summary

● Endogenous fluorescence carbon dots (CDs) derived from food items are ultrasmall nanoparticles with sizes below 10 nm, which typically contain carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and/or nitrogen. The most significant features of CDs are strong and tunable fluorescence.

● Currently, the universal presence of CDs in food items has been proved. The formation of these endogenous food-borne CDs could be attributed to the complex reaction among a variety of food mponents during cooking process.

● The contact of these endogenous food-borne CDs is very frequent in our daily life. Therefore, our knowledge about the CDs is still in its infancy and more attention should be paid to the food-borne CDs owing to their uncertainty to human health.

● Primary results demonstrated that these food-borne CDs could accumulate in various organs and induce potential effects of the health. However, the concern of the long-term safety of food-borne CDs has not been addressed. Further research efforts should be focused on the chronic effects of these endogenous food-borne CDs.

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