Bioactive Peptides in Animal Food Products

Abstract

Proteins of animal origin represent physiologically active components in the human diet; they exert a direct action or constitute a substrate for enzymatic hydrolysis upon food processing and consumption. Bioactive peptides may descend from the hydrolysis by digestive enzymes, enzymes endogenous to raw food materials, and enzymes from microorganisms added during food processing. Milk proteins have different polymorphisms for each dairy species that influence the amount and the biochemical characteristics (e.g., amino acid chain, phosphorylation, and glycosylation) of the protein. Milk from other species alternative to cow has been exploited for their role in children with cow milk allergy and in some infant pathologies, such as epilepsy, by monitoring the immune status. Different mechanisms concur for bioactive peptides generation from meat and meat products, and their functionality and application as functional ingredients have proven effects on consumer health. Animal food proteins are currently the main source of a range of biologically-active peptides which have gained special interest because they may also influence numerous physiological responses in the organism. The addition of probiotics to animal food products represent a strategy for the increase of molecules with health and functional properties.

Biologically active peptides of meat and meat product proteins: a review. Part 1. General information about biologically active peptides of meat and meat products

“…The oxidative status can regulate the endogenous enzymatic activity and, consequently, a degree of degradation of myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic proteins [25]. Changes in temperature and pH can affect the content of bioactive peptides due to changes in the activity of endogenous enzymes [3,26,27].…”

“…It is known that peptides with the biological activity are naturally formed in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract during metabolism of meat diet proteins under the action of the digestive enzymes such as pepsin, trypsin, chymotrypsin, elastase, and carboxypeptidase [3,28,29,30]. Therefore, to generate such potentially biologically active peptides, researchers model a process that simulates gastrointestinal digestion.…”

Study of the functional product’s protein compounds digestion features

“…Today bioactive components of foods are considered dietary elements that have a measurable biological effect (for example, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, antihypertensive, osteoprotective, hypolipedemic, opiate, etc.) and have a beneficial effect on human health [1,2,3]. During different phases of industrial processing and digestion, bioactive peptides with a wide range of biological effects can be released from protein [4,5].…”

Anticancer bioactive peptide combined with docetaxel and its mechanism in the treatment of breast cancer

“…A wide range of bioactive peptides exist in natural resources, including specific small molecular protein fragments that, although inactive within the protein sequence, can be released during proteolysis or fermentation and are activated by the digestive, endocrine, cardiovascular, immune and nervous systems, which serve as important roles in human health ( 14 ). Several peptides released from animal proteins have been reported to have different health effects in vitro and in vivo , including antimicrobial properties, blood pressure reduction, cholesterol reduction, antithrombotic and antioxidant activity and opioid-like activity ( 14-16 ). These peptides have also been reported to enhance mineral absorption and bioavailability, exhibit cellular and immunomodulatory effects and exhibit antiobesity and antigenotoxic activities ( 14-16 ).…”