The bioactive peptides produced by enzymatic hydrolysis, acid hydrolysis and fermentation approach have been identified and used widely in research. These methods are important in enhancement or prevention and management of chronic diseases that are ravaging the world such as type -2-diabetes, hypertension, oxidative stress, cancer, and obesity. Sources of bioactive peptides have been established ranging from plant to animal and marine foods that have pharmacological effects; however these effects are dependent on target cells and peptides structure and conformations.  Plants such as hemp and animal source such as milk among others validate the findings of In vitro and In-vivo studies and the efficiency of these bioactive peptides in the management of certain chronic diseases. This article reviews the literature on bioactive peptides with concern on food sources, production and bioactive peptides application in enhancement of health and management of hypertension, diabetes and oxidative stress.  Future research efforts on bioactive peptides should be directed towards elucidating specific sequenced bioactive peptides and their molecular mechanisms, through In-vivo and In-vitro studies for specific health condition in human using nutrigenomics and peptideomic approaches.

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The microbiological, physico-chemical, sensory and storage characteristics of dambu-nama (DN) as influenced by addition of citric acid, salt and sugar as hurdles were investigated. Preliminary sensory evaluation suggested that at citric acid level above 0.3%, sugar and salt levels above 2% each, the products were either too harsh or sweet for acceptance. Four products comprising DN with 0.1% citric acid + 2% salt and 2% sugar (DNC0.1), DN+ 0.2% citric + 2% salt + 2% sugar (DNC0.2), DN + 0.3% citric acid + 2% salt + 2% sugar (DNC0.3) and a control DN without citric acid , salt or sugar (DNC0) were produced and subjected to microbiological, sensory and storage analyses. Treatment of dambu-nama with the hurdles resulted in significant (p< 0.05) decrease in total plate and mould counts. Thiobarbituric acid, tyrosine and total plate counts varied very little with no definite trend, there by ruling out their use as possible indices of quality. The pH of dambu-nama exhibited a slow but definite decline with storage. The decrease in pH was best described by first order reaction kinetics (r2 ≥ 0.987) and adequately by the Arrhenius activated energy complex theory (r2 ≥ 0.991) with activation energies (kJ/mol) of 32.6 (DNC0), 27.6 (DNC0.1), 23.1 (DNC0.2) and 54.5 (DNC0.3), respectively. Treatment with the hurdles increased shelf-life of dambu-nama by a factor of 2.3 to 8.4 with shelf-life (wks) of 7.7 to 4.3 (DNC0), 17.8 to 10.3 (DNC0.1), 33.3 to 21.0 (DNC0.2) and 64.9 to 27.9 (DNC0.3), respectively for storage at 20 to 35oC. The objective of this study thus was to investigate quality changes in dambu-nama during normal and accelerated storage as influenced by the hurdles with the purpose of shelf-lives predictions.