Functional Significance of Bioactive Peptides Derived from Milk Proteins

Bioactive peptides can be defined as protein fragments with potential biological activities. Milk proteins are precursors of many different biologically active peptides. Bioactive peptides from milk proteins are considered potential modulators of various regulatory processes in the body. They mediate physiological functions in cardiovascular, nervous, gastro intestinal and immune systems. The functional significance of bioactivities depends on peptide fragment. Bioactive peptides encrypted in major milk proteins are latent within the sequence of the parent protein molecule. They can be liberated by (i) gastro intestinal digestion of milk, (ii) fermentation of milk with proteolytic starter cultures, and (iii) hydrolysis by proteolytic enzymes. In relation to their mode of action, bioactive peptides may reach target sites at the luminal side of intestinal tract, or after absorption, in peripheral organs. The production, functionalities, and mode of action of bioactive milk peptides as well as latest peptide products and ingredients are reviewed.     

Bioactive peptides in dairy products: synthesis and interaction with proteolytic enzymes

Food proteins are sources of peptides with various biological activities, such as opioids, mineral carriers, antihypertensives, immuno-stimulants, antithrombotics and antigastrics. These bioactive peptides are generated in vivo, in vitro and during food processing. Bioactive peptides are largely found in milk, fermented milks and cheeses. Proteolytic enzymes naturally occurring in milk, and enzymes from lactic acid bacteria or from exogenous sources contribute to the generation of bioactive peptides. Dairy processing conditions such as cheese ripening are also relevant. Once produced, bioactive peptides play a significant role in cheesemaking by selectively inhibiting proteolytic enzymes of lactic acid bacteria and subsequently affecting cheese quality. Sensitivity to inhibition is highly specific: enzymes of the same biochemical class and strains of the same species differ. Bioactive peptides also inhibit dairy spoilage enzymes.     

Bioactive peptides derived from milk proteins and their health beneficial potentials: an update

It has been well recognized that dietary proteins provide a rich source of biologically active peptides. Today, milk proteins are considered the most important source of bioactive peptides and an increasing number of bioactive peptides have been identified in milk protein hydrolysates and fermented dairy products. Bioactive peptides derived from milk proteins offer a promising approach for the promotion of health by means of a tailored diet and provide interesting opportunities to the dairy industry for expansion of its field of operation. The potential health benefits of milk protein-derived peptides have been a subject of growing commercial interest in the context of health-promoting functional foods. Hence, these peptides are being incorporated in the form of ingredients in functional and novel foods, dietary supplements and even pharmaceuticals with the purpose of delivering specific health benefits.     

Bioactive peptides: Production and functionality

Milk proteins exert a wide range of nutritional, functional and biological activities. Many milk proteins possess specific biological properties that make these components potential ingredients of health-promoting foods. Increasing attention is being focused on physiologically active peptides derived from milk proteins. These peptides are inactive within the sequence of the parent protein molecule and can be liberated by (1) gastrointestinal digestion of milk, (2) fermentation of milk with proteolytic starter cultures or (3) hydrolysis by proteolytic enzymes. Milk protein derived peptides have been shown in vivo to exert various activities affecting, e.g., the digestive, cardiovascular, immune and nervous systems. Studies have identified a great number of peptide sequences with specific bioactivities in the major milk proteins and also the conditions for their release have been determined. Industrial-scale technologies suitable for the commercial production of bioactive milk peptides have been developed and launched recently. These technologies are based on novel membrane separation and ion exchange chromatographic methods being employed by the emerging dairy ingredient industry. A variety of naturally formed bioactive peptides have been found in fermented dairy products, such as yoghurt, sour milk and cheese. The health benefits attributed to peptides in these traditional products have, so far, not been established, however. On the other hand, there are already a few commercial dairy products supplemented with milk protein-derived bioactive peptides whose health benefits have been documented in clinical human studies. It is envisaged that this trend will expand as more knowledge is gained about the multifunctional properties and physiological functions of milk peptides.     

Milk-derived bioactive peptides: From science to applications

Milk proteins have received increasing attention as potential ingredients of health-promoting functional foods targeted at diet-related chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes type two and obesity. To this end, growing interest has been focused on physiologically active peptides derived from milk proteins. These peptides are inactive within the sequence of the parent protein molecule and can be liberated by gastrointestinal digestion of milk, fermentation of milk with proteolytic starter cultures or hydrolysis by proteolytic enzymes. Milk protein-derived peptides have been shown under in vitro and in vivo conditions to exert a number of activities affecting the digestive, endocrine, cardiovascular, immune and nervous systems. A great variety of naturally formed bioactive peptides have been found in fermented dairy products, such as yoghurt, sour milk and cheese. Recently, industrial-scale technologies suitable for the industrial production of bioactive milk peptides have been developed. In addition, a few commercial food products supplemented with milk protein-derived bioactive peptides have been launched on limited markets. Some of these products carry clinically documented benefits, in particular for reduction of mild hypertension. The multifunctional properties of milk peptides appear to offer considerable potential for the development of many similar products in the near future.     

Functional role of bioactive peptides with special reference to cheeses

Growing perception about diet in relation to health has extended the necessity to explore the biologically active components present in native foods. In this review, bioactive peptides released from cheeses that may have important physiological functions are discussed. Bioactive encrypted peptides can be generated from precursor milk proteins during food processing via enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. Generally, biofunctionalities of peptides are latent within precursor proteins. Bioactive peptides liberated from cheeses exhibit numerous potential therapeutic roles: for example, angiotensinogen‐converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition, antioxidant, anti‐thrombotic, anti‐microbial, anti‐cancer and anti‐inflammatory. This article critically focuses on the functional roles of bioactive peptides derived from different cheeses.     

Bioactive milk peptides: a prospectus

Bioactive peptides have been identified within the amino acid sequences of native milk proteins. Hydrolytic reactions, such as those catalyzed by digestive enzymes, result in their release. These peptides directly influence numerous biological processes evoking behavioral, gastrointestinal, hormonal, immunological, neurological, and nutritional responses. The specific bioreactions associated with each physiological class have been well characterized. Herein, we review the scientific literature and attempt to stimulate consideration of the continued use of bioactive peptides and their expanded development as a commercial product. Several applications have already evolved. For example, phosphopeptides derived from casein fractions are currently used as both dietary and pharmaceutical supplements. Potentially, the addition of bioactive peptides to food products could improve consumer safety as a result of their antimicrobial properties. Lastly, bioactive peptides may function as health care products, providing therapeutic value for either treatment of infection or prevention of disease.     

乳蛋白生物活性肽的药理学作用及应用前景

以乳蛋白生物活性肽中酪蛋白磷酸肽为重点，就乳蛋白生物活性肽的离子载体作用、细胞凋亡诱导作用、细胞免疫调节作用、DNA合成促进作用、抗茵作用、抗高血压作用和抗血栓作用进行了阐述，并对这些药理学作用的研究进展加以介绍，同时展望了乳蛋白生物活性肽在乳品和医药工业中的应用前景：     

利用纳米载体口服递送生物活性肽的研究进展

生物活性肽因具有高生理活性和生物相容性已被用于预防或治疗各种疾病。纳米载体在生物活性肽的稳定性方面发挥重要作用,对其穿过胃肠道时提供了强有力的保护作用。口服给药的方式往往会很大程度地降低生物活性肽的生物利用度,制备纳米颗粒作为生物活性肽的口服给药递送系统旨在提高生物活性肽的生物利用度,从而提高治疗的靶向性。因此,本文综述了生物活性肽口服纳米载体给药系统的研究现状,重点介绍了生物活性肽口服给药递送的条件、多功能给药递送系统及其应用,旨在为生物活性肽的最大化利用提供参考。     

改善心血管健康的食源性生物活性肽构效关系研究进展

食物源生物活性肽作为可改善健康状况的营养成分可由动植物食品在人体内消化或加工过程中产生,并表现出抗氧化、免疫调节、调节阿片样受体及抗菌、降压、降血脂、抗血栓等多种生理活性。通过调节和改善人体生理功能,生物活性肽可用于预防和治疗心血管疾病等慢性病。活性肽的来源、结构对其功能性质有重要影响。本文综述了与心血管健康有关的活性肽的构效关系研究进展,并对其研究前景进行展望。     

植物源生物活性肽的研究进展

生物活性肽是一类对生物机体有益且易被机体吸收的小分子聚合物,是由2～20个氨基酸组成的蛋白质片段,其功能性质由氨基酸组成和排列顺序决定。植物是生物活性肽的天然宝库,植物源生物活性肽种类丰富、结构新颖,是近年来的研究热点。生物活性肽被视为营养保健品和功能食品成分,除了含有丰富的营养价值之外,还具有抗氧化、降血压、抑菌、降血脂和维持血糖水平平衡等功能,可利用其功能治疗、控制和预防慢性疾病,对食品、医药和美容等领域的发展具有重要意义。本文综述了近5年从植物中获取生物活性肽的最新进展,系统地总结了抗氧化肽、降压肽、抗菌肽、降血糖肽和降血脂肽的作用机制,与目前最常见的健康问题进行对应说明。对生物活性肽的制备方法、分离纯化和鉴定技术进行总结比较,并对生物活性肽的未来发展趋势以及在实际应用中遇到的问题进行展望,为未来植物源生物活性肽的进一步研究开发与应用提供参考。     

Safety of milk‐derived bioactive peptides

Bioactive milk peptides are protein fragments with potential biological activities. Over the past decades, studies have mainly focused on the health benefits of these bioactive peptides; however, only a few studies have evaluated their safety. In this review, we describe the scientific literature regarding their effects on both cell lines and on animal and human models, in terms of allergenicity, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and mutagenicity.     

Alpha‐Lactalbumin: Its Production Technologies and Bioactive Peptides

ABSTRACT: Alpha‐lactalbumin (α‐La), a globular protein found in all mammalian milk, has been used as an ingredient in infant formulas. The protein can be isolated from milk using chromatography/gel filtration, membrane separation, enzyme hydrolysis, and precipitation/aggregation technologies. α‐La is appreciated as a source of peptides with antitumor and apoptosis, antiulcerative, immune modulating, antimicrobial, antiviral, antihypertensive, opioid, mineral binding, and antioxidative bioactivities, which may be utilized in the production of functional foods. Nanotubes formed by the protein could find applications in foods and pharmaceuticals, and understanding its amyloid fibrils is important in drawing strategies for controlling amyloidal diseases. Bioactive peptides in α‐La are released during the fermentation or ripening of dairy products by starter and nonstarter microorganisms and during digestion by gastric enzymes. Bioactive peptides are also produced by deliberate hydrolysis of α‐La using animal, microbial, or plant proteases. The occurrence, structure, and production technologies of α‐La and its bioactive peptides are reviewed.     

Chemopreventive role of food-derived proteins and peptides: A review

Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality and disability worldwide. Although great advances in cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation are currently being achieved, their application is associated with numerous and expensive adverse side effects. Epidemiological evidence has demonstrated that the consumption of certain foods potentially prevents up to 35% of cancer cases. Bioactive components are ubiquitous in nature, also in dietary food, providing an essential link in health maintenance, promotion, and prevention of chronic diseases, such as cancer. Development of bioactive proteins and peptides is a current and innovative strategy for cancer prevention/cure. A growing body of anticancer protein and peptides from natural sources has shown the ability to reduce tumor progression through multiple mechanisms including apoptotic, antiproliferative, antiangiogenic, and immunomodulatory activities. This review is focused on proteins and peptides from different food sources including plants, milk, egg, and marine organisms in which chemopreventive properties have been demonstrated. Other aspects such as mechanism of action, bioavailability, and identification and characterization of food-derived peptides by advance separated technologies are also included. This review highlights the potential application of food-derived peptides as functional food ingredients and pharmaceutical candidates in the auxiliary therapy of cancer.     

Functional properties and health benefits of bioactive peptides derived from Spirulina: A review

Bioactive peptides represent specific sequences of amino acids that have biological activity with several health effects and potential applications, which can be obtained from diverse protein sources. Spirulina, the cyanobacterium known for its high protein content and therapeutic properties, has been investigated as a potential source of bioactive peptides. Some bioactive peptides derived from Spirulina are under study for their ability to offer specific health benefits, such as antimicrobial, antiallergic, antihypertensive, antitumor, and immunomodulatory properties. Bioactive peptide fractions from Spirulina biomass can be obtained through a series of operations, including cell lysis and protein extraction, enzymatic hydrolysis, potential bioactivity screening, fractionation, and purification. Potentially, Spirulina-derived peptide fractions can be applied as nutraceutical ingredients in foods and pharmaceuticals. This article reviews the functional properties and health benefits of bioactive peptides from Spirulina, and presents potential mechanisms by which bioactive components can be exploited in the development of novel foods with special health claims. In addition, this article describes recent developments in proteomics, bioactivity screening methods, and opportunities for designing future peptide-based foods.     

Angiotensin-I-converting enzyme and prolyl endopeptidase inhibitory peptides from natural sources with a focus on marine processing by-products

Like many natural resource-based processing industries, the seafood processing sector gives rise to a significant volume of organic waste. Environmental issues, economic concerns and legal restrictions regarding the disposal of processing wastes have led to increased research in the discovery of alternative value-added products, such as bioactive peptides from these waste streams. Bioactive peptides have various physiological functionalities in the human body following consumption and these include antihypertensive, antiamnesiac, mineral-binding, immunodulatory, antioxidative and antithrombotic activities. The search for bioactive peptides from a variety of different sources has become a major area of research with potential for the functional foods sector. The isolation of bioactive peptides typically involves the hydrolysis of the protein of choice with different proteolytic enzymes, alone or in combination with Generally Recognised as Safe (GRAS) micro-organisms.     

生物活性肽和肠道菌群相互作用研究进展

生物活性肽是对生物机体的生命活动具有积极作用的肽类化合物,近年来逐渐成为食品、保健食品以及特殊医学用食品等领域的研究热点之一.研究表明,肠道中微生物产生的蛋白酶作用于食物中的蛋白质,可以产生生物活性肽.另一方面,生物活性肽对肠道菌群的结构具有明显的调节作用,而肠道菌群结构的改变对宿主的健康产生重要的影响.本文对生物活性...     

Meat protein based bioactive peptides and their potential functional activity: a review

Bioactive peptides are the general name for the short amino acid sequences, which could be generated from the hydrolysis of parent proteins including beef, pork, mutton, chicken, duck and various species of marine organisms. Drying, curing, ripening and fermentation are particular procedures for meat flavour and also important for the releasing of bioactive peptides from parent proteins. Once being released, the peptides would play bioactive roles beyond their nutritional values. The physiological activities of meat-derived peptides have been demonstrated to have antioxidative, antihypertensive, antimicrobial, opioid, antithrombotic and other bioactive effects. The regulation on immunological, gastrointestinal and neurological responses of those bioactive peptides supplies a vital base for the prevention of hypertension, obesity, diabetes and other metabolic disorders. In this review, we summarised the current studies on meat derived bioactive peptides along with their physiological functions to supply the overall understanding of the health benefit of bioactive peptides.     

Bioactive peptides as natural antioxidants in food products – A review

BackgroundDiseases related to oxidative stress and food quality decay are of major concern worldwide as they can lead to economic losses in both public health and food production. The antioxidant peptides, extracted from food proteins, can be explored as natural new drug and food ingredient.Scope and approachAntioxidant peptides are extracted from non-antioxidant precursor proteins from different origin by the activity of either proteolytic microorganisms or isolated enzymes. In the present review, the main sources of bioactive peptides will be discussed. Moreover, the current strategies to obtain these compounds as well as their health benefits and in vivo biological effects will be evaluated. Considerations for further research and development of strategies to increase the knowledge about this underexplored activity of peptides will be also considered.Key findings and conclusionsBioactive peptides' content and profile differ according to the matrix studied and the method used. The utilization of fermentation processes and enzymes has been established to obtain antioxidant bioactive peptides from proteins, being isolated enzymes the most commonly used method, due to their superior control over releasing and obtaining targeted peptides. Antioxidant peptides have the ability to reduce the formation of oxidative products along with the induction of antioxidant enzymes in vivo. However, at this stage of development more in vivo studies are needed in order to evaluate the specific effects on the health of selected antioxidant peptides. In food technology, successful application in meat products strengthens the role of selected peptides as antioxidant additives, although there is a need to observe the effects of the isolated bioactive peptides in other food matrices along with studies to scale-up its production.     

食品蛋白来源生物活性肽

生物活性肽是蛋白质功能片段经酶解产生具有特殊生理调节功能肽段。该文主要介绍降血压肽、高F值寡肽、酪蛋白磷酸肽、免疫活性肽、清除自由基活性肽等几种国内外广泛关注生物活性肽,并在此基础上对生物活性肽开发进行展望。