Food-derived peptides with biological activity: from research to food applications

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Many peptides that are released in vitro or in vivo from animal or plant proteins are bioactive and have regulatory functions in humans beyond normal and adequate nutrition. Different health effects have been attributed to food-derived peptides, including antimicrobial properties, blood pressure-lowering (ACE inhibitory) effects, cholesterol-lowering ability, antithrombotic and antioxidant activities, enhancement of mineral absorption and/or bioavailability, cyto- or immunomodulatory effects, and opioid activities. Numerous products are already on the market or under development by food companies that exploit the potential of food-derived bioactive peptides and which ascribe scientifically evidenced health claims to consumption of these functional foods.

Introduction

Proteins and peptides from food have been found to be physiologically active or bioactive, either in a direct manner through their presence in the undisturbed food itself or after their release from the respective host proteins by hydrolysis in vivo or in vitro (e.g. cheese ripening [1] and food fermentation [2, 3•]).

In this context, the term ‘food-derived bioactive peptides’ refers to different peptides of plant or animal origin that may have regulatory functions in the human system beyond normal and adequate nutrition.

Research in the field of bioactive peptides has intensified during the past two decades and has been extensively reviewed [4, 5, 6, 7]. The potential for bioactive peptides to contribute to a healthier nutrition (e.g. by ingesting them with functional foods) has been widely discussed in the scientific community. Chemical and biological methods have been applied and developed to screen for bioactive peptides that could promote different health effects; however, only some of the postulated health effects have been proven in human studies.

The present review primarily focuses on the past two years of research in the field of food-derived bioactive peptides and gives an overview of commercially available food products that are ascribed a certain health benefit.

Section snippets

Food-derived bioactive peptides

Many peptides of plant and animal origin with relevant bioactive potential have been discovered, with by far the most being isolated from milk-based products. Candidate proteins containing these latent biological activities are found in milk, eggs, meat and fish as well as in different plant protein sources such as soy, wheat, and so on (Table 1).

A wide range of activities has been described (see Figure 1), including antimicrobial properties, blood pressure-lowering (ACE inhibitory) effects,

Food applications

A large number of the bioactive peptides mentioned in this review occur naturally in traditional foods that have been consumed long before the term ‘bioactive’ was established. Many of these peptides are released from the encrypting host proteins by fermentation of milk, including cheese ripening [2]. Many peptides are generated by enzymatic reactions in the gut after ingestion of foods containing precursor proteins (e.g. after drinking a glass of milk) [20, 32].

Bioactive peptides are

Conclusions

Research continues to uncover novel bioactive peptides and to reveal their possible functions and health benefits. The systematic synthesis of peptides and peptidomimetics has an important role in finding new bioactive structures and for elucidating structural information on the active conformations [34]. Furthermore, structure-activity studies based on in silico analysis using chemometric methods (e.g. artificial neural networks), are effective and useful for identifying bioactive sequences [16

References and recommended reading

Papers of particular interest, published within the annual period of review, have been highlighted as:

  • • of special interest

  • •• of outstanding interest

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