Preparation and Functional Activity of Food Bioactive Peptides

Dear Colleagues,

It is well known that dietary proteins provide a rich source of biologically active peptides that can be released through hydrolysis by proteolytic enzymes or fermentation. Bioactive peptides have exhibited various beneficial functional activities, in vitro and in vivo, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic, anti-osteoporosis activities, etc. However, the question remains: how can we prepare protein hydrolysates with high levels of bioactivity? The use of technology to degrade proteins in a bioenzyme-directed manner is the key to the preparation of highly bioactive peptide ingredients. Furthermore, hydrolysates are complex mixtures of peptides with different lengths and amino acid compositions, including large non-functional peptides, non-degraded proteins, and free amino acids. Hence, fractionation technologies are required to separate peptides from hydrolysates in order to concentrate the desired bioactive or functional peptides. Moreover, what is the amino acid sequence of the bioactive peptides inside? And how effective is it in cell-based or in animal experiments? All of these issues need to be further clarified, and the relevant research may help develop bioactive peptides as functional ingredients in the food industry.

Prof. Dr. Bo Li
Guest Editor

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