Food-Derived Bioactive Peptides: From Generation and Identification to Therapeutic and Functional Applications
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Abstract
Food-derived bioactive peptides have emerged as an important class of naturally occurring compounds with significant potential for promoting human health and preventing chronic diseases. These peptides are encrypted within the primary structure of food proteins and are released through enzymatic hydrolysis, microbial fermentation, food processing, or gastrointestinal digestion. Owing to their structural diversity and multifunctional properties, bioactive peptides have attracted increasing attention from researchers and the food, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical industries. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge on food derived bioactive peptides, covering their major dietary sources, production strategies, purification methods, and advanced analytical approaches for peptide identification and characterization. Recent developments in high resolution mass spectrometry, bioinformatics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and in silico prediction tools have substantially accelerated the discovery and functional evaluation of novel bioactive peptides. The biological activities of food derived peptides, including antioxidant, antihypertensive, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antidiabetic, anticancer, and several emerging health-promoting effects, are critically discussed with emphasis on their underlying molecular mechanisms. Furthermore, current and prospective applications of these peptides in functional foods, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, food preservation, and cosmetic products are highlighted. Despite considerable scientific progress, several challenges remain regarding peptide stability, gastrointestinal bioavailability, large-scale production, and clinical validation. Future advances in biotechnology, precision fermentation, synthetic biology, AI-assisted peptide discovery, and innovative delivery systems are expected to facilitate the translation of food-derived bioactive peptides from laboratory research to commercial and therapeutic applications. Food derived bioactive peptides represent a rapidly expanding research field with substantial potential for developing sustainable functional ingredients and next-generation health promoting products.
Keywords
Bioactive peptides Food proteins Enzymatic hydrolysis Functional foods Nutraceuticals Peptide identification Biological activitiesReferences (34)
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