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© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. Gani, B. A. Ashwar (eds.), Food biopolymers: Structural, functional
and nutraceutical properties, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27061-2_11
Nutraceutical Properties of Bioactive
Peptides
Sajid Maqsood, Sabika Jafar, and Priti Mudgil
Introduction
Diet is one of the major environmental factors that is recognized to impact our
health and the emergence of certain diseases. During gastrointestinal digestion, the
major nutrient proteins consumed undergoes breakdown and releases several peptides and amino acids. Some of these peptides may act as hormones or neurotransmitters due to their similar characteristics to endogenous peptides. These exogenous
food-derived peptides can act on receptors in the body and exert agonistic or antagonistic activities. One example of such peptides is opioid peptides (Teschemacher
2003). The bioactivity of food-derived peptides depends on their chain length,
molecular charge, hydrophobicity and side-chain bulkiness of the constituent amino
acid residues (Pripp et al. 2005). Normally, the peptide activity against disease targets is considered as lower than synthetic drugs, but the benefits of dietary bioactive
peptides like low health cost, safety, and additional nutritional benefits makes these
peptides seem attractive (Udenigwe and Aluko 2012).
The last two decades have seen a tremendous amount of literature published
regarding identification of peptides with different biological activity. Majority of
the studies have been performed in vitro, but animal models and clinical trial studies
are also available depending on which activity is being investigated (HernándezLedesma et al. 2014). The nutraceutical effects of the bioactive peptides are diverse
and widely reported (Korhonen 2009; Moller et al. 2008). Consumption of foodderived bioactive peptides with multifunctional effects have the potential to positively impact overall health of individuals by preventing disease. This chapter will
focus on milk derived peptides and a few of their biological activities.
S. Maqsood (*) · S. Jafar · P. Mudgil
Department of Food Science, College of Food and Agriculture, United Arab Emirates
University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
e-mail: sajid.m@uaeu.ac.ae
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. Gani, B. A. Ashwar (eds.), Food biopolymers: Structural, functional
and nutraceutical properties, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27061-2_11
Nutraceutical Properties of Bioactive
Peptides
Sajid Maqsood, Sabika Jafar, and Priti Mudgil
Introduction
Diet is one of the major environmental factors that is recognized to impact our
health and the emergence of certain diseases. During gastrointestinal digestion, the
major nutrient proteins consumed undergoes breakdown and releases several peptides and amino acids. Some of these peptides may act as hormones or neurotransmitters due to their similar characteristics to endogenous peptides. These exogenous
food-derived peptides can act on receptors in the body and exert agonistic or antagonistic activities. One example of such peptides is opioid peptides (Teschemacher
2003). The bioactivity of food-derived peptides depends on their chain length,
molecular charge, hydrophobicity and side-chain bulkiness of the constituent amino
acid residues (Pripp et al. 2005). Normally, the peptide activity against disease targets is considered as lower than synthetic drugs, but the benefits of dietary bioactive
peptides like low health cost, safety, and additional nutritional benefits makes these
peptides seem attractive (Udenigwe and Aluko 2012).
The last two decades have seen a tremendous amount of literature published
regarding identification of peptides with different biological activity. Majority of
the studies have been performed in vitro, but animal models and clinical trial studies
are also available depending on which activity is being investigated (HernándezLedesma et al. 2014). The nutraceutical effects of the bioactive peptides are diverse
and widely reported (Korhonen 2009; Moller et al. 2008). Consumption of foodderived bioactive peptides with multifunctional effects have the potential to positively impact overall health of individuals by preventing disease. This chapter will
focus on milk derived peptides and a few of their biological activities.
S. Maqsood (*) · S. Jafar · P. Mudgil
Department of Food Science, College of Food and Agriculture, United Arab Emirates
University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
e-mail: sajid.m@uaeu.ac.ae