Food-Derived Peptides Utilization: Fractionation, Structural Characterization, and Bio-Active Properties with Innovative or Novel Technologies

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Physics and (Bio)Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 January 2026 | Viewed by 589

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Food Science, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan
Interests: application of vacuum microwave technology; bioactive peptides; fruit and vegetable processing

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Guest Editor
1. Department of Nutrition, China Medical University, 100 Sec. 1, Jingmao Road, Taichung 406040, Taiwan
2. Department of Food Nutrition and Health Biotechnology, Asia University, 500 Lioufeng Road, Taichung 413305, Taiwan
Interests: food processing; food chemistry; health food development; baking; bioactive peptides; bioinformatics; food safety

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is my pleasure to share that I am serving as the Guest Editor for a Special Issue of the MDPI journal Foods, entitled “Food-Derived Peptides Utilization: Fractionation, Structural Characterization, and Bio-Active Properties with Innovative or Novel Technologies”.

Food-derived peptides are vital components of our daily diet that are found abundantly in meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, legumes, and other plant-based sources. With ongoing advancements in food science and technology, increasing attention has been paid to the functional properties of peptides—particularly their roles in generating bioactive peptides. These peptides, produced through protein hydrolysis, are recognized for offering a range of health benefits, including antioxidant, antimicrobial, antihypertensive, anticancer, antidiabetic and immunomodulatory effects, etc.

This Special Issue aims to explore the broad potential of food proteins and peptides, emphasizing their fractionation, structural characterization, and bioactive properties, using innovative or novel approaches to produce the bioactive peptides.

I warmly invite you to contribute your valuable research findings to this Special Issue. If your work aligns with any aspect of food peptides work, we would be honored to consider your manuscript for publication. 

Prof. Dr. Yu-Wei Chang
Prof. Dr. Kuo-Chiang Hsu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • food-derived peptides 
  • bioactive peptides 
  • innovative or novel technologies 
  • protein hydrolysates 
  • proteomics

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 2536 KB  
Article
Identification and In Vitro Evaluation of Milkfish (Chanos chanos) Frame Proteins and Hydrolysates with DPP-IV Inhibitory and Antioxidant Activities
by Anastacio T. Cagabhion III, Wen-Ling Ko, Ting-Jui Chuang, Rotimi E. Aluko and Yu-Wei Chang
Foods 2025, 14(20), 3456; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14203456 - 10 Oct 2025
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Abstract
The study presents the potential of milkfish frame, a by-product of milkfish processing, as a source of dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) inhibitory and antioxidant peptides with potential applications in type 2 diabetes management. Proteomic analysis identified key proteins, including 65 kDa warm temperature [...] Read more.
The study presents the potential of milkfish frame, a by-product of milkfish processing, as a source of dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) inhibitory and antioxidant peptides with potential applications in type 2 diabetes management. Proteomic analysis identified key proteins, including 65 kDa warm temperature acclimation protein 1 and myosin heavy chain. In silico prediction (BIOPEP-UWM) guided the selection of proteases for generating DPP-IV inhibitory peptides. Enzymatic hydrolysates were produced and evaluated for bioactivity. Among the treatments, pepsin hydrolysis (2% v/v, 8 h) yielded the highest peptide content (283.64 mg/g), soluble protein (86.46%), and DPP-IV inhibitory activity (68.47%). The resulting milkfish frame pepsin hydrolysate (MFH) was further enhanced through ultrafiltration and simulated gastrointestinal digestion, which improved the DPP-IV inhibitory and antioxidant capacities. Cytotoxicity assays confirmed that MFH (0–100 μg/mL) was non-toxic to FL83B hepatocytes after 24 h. Moreover, treating TNF-α-induced FL83B cells with 10 μg/mL MFHs improved cell viability, reducing the toxicity induced by TNF-α in cells. These findings show that MFHs exhibit promising antidiabetic potential and could serve as natural alternatives to synthetic drugs for type 2 diabetes management. This also demonstrates the valorization of fish processing by-products into functional food ingredients, advancing sustainable approaches in food innovation. Full article
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