Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) Seed Proteins’ Anti-Obesity Potential through Lipase Inhibition Using In Silico, In Vitro and In Vivo Models

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the pancreatic lipase (PL) inhibitory effect of cocoa protein (CP) hydrolysates (CPH) using in silico and in vitro approaches, and an in vivo high-fat diet (HF) obese rat model. The results showed better theoretical affinity on PL for cocoa peptides EEQR, GGER, QTGVQ, and VSTDVNIE released from vicilin and albumins (−6.5, −6.3, −6.2, and −6.1 kcal/mol, respectively). Absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADMET) prediction showed the human intestinal absorption (HIA) capacity of orlistat and eight cocoa peptides, demonstrating that they presented a low probability of toxicity with values lower than 0.6, while the orlistat has a high probability of hepatotoxicity with a mean value of 0.9. CPH (degree of hydrolysis of 55%) inhibited PL with an IC50 (concentration needed to inhibit 50% of enzyme activity) value of 1.38 mg/mL. The intragastric administration of 150 mg CP/kg/day to rats increased total lipids and triglycerides excretion in feces, ranging from 11% to 15% compared to the HF-diet. The HF + CP-diet also significantly decreased (p < 0.05) the apparent rate of fat absorption compared with the HF group. These results suggest that CP has anti-obesity potential by inhibiting PL, thus helping to prevent the development of non-communicable diseases.

Lentil and Fava Bean With Contrasting Germination Kinetics: A Focus on Digestion of Proteins and Bioactivity of Resistant Peptides

“…This observation is supported by a recent study, showing a high correlation between the ADMET predicted values and experimental results on the bioactivity and intestinal absorption of ACE inhibitory peptides (Zhao et al, 2019). Regarding hepatotoxicity, the peptides SDLFENL, LSPGDVFVVPAGHPVA, LSPGDVFVVPAGHPV, FLPQFTDADF in lentil and FFEITPK and ATPADVLANAFGL in fava bean showed low probability values (<0.6) that were smaller than those previously calculated for cocoa peptides (Coronado-Cáceres et al, 2020). The peptide SDLFENL identified in all lentil types and the peptide QQQPDSHQKIRR in ZF showed the lowest values of acute oral toxicity (2.1 and 2.3 kg/mol, respectively), whereas LSPGDVFVVPAGHPV found in GZL and BL lentils and LSPGDVLVIPAGYPVAIK in ZF exhibited the highest acute oral toxicity (3.4 and 3.2 kg/mol, respectively).…”

Total Fat Content and Fatty Acid Profile of Fine-Aroma Cocoa From Northeastern Peru

“…Based on Cabezas-Zabala et al (30), the increased consumption of monosaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids can reduce LDL cholesterol, resulting in a growing interest in incorporating these bioactive lipids in functional foods designed to produce certain health benefits, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer and cholesterollowering properties (29). Cocoa protein and its peptides could be developed as an ingredient in the formulation of new functional foods aimed at mitigating obesity and associated disorders (31).…”

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) Seed-Derived Peptides Reduce Blood Pressure by Interacting with the Catalytic Site of the Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme

“…The rats were acclimatized for one week with unlimited access to food and water. A total of 21 rats were used and randomly divided into three dietary groups (n = 7 per group) as follows [20,35]: Standard Diet (STD group, 3.1 kcal/g) (TD.05230; Teklad Global Harlan Laboratories, Inc., Madison, WI, USA), High-Fat diet (HF group, 4.5 kcal/g) (TD.88137; Teklad Global Harlan Laboratories, Inc.), and HF-diet, supplemented with 150 mg CP/kg/day through orogastric administration once daily (HF + CP group). The experimental period was 8 weeks.…”

“…All animals were fed ad libitum with free access to water during the experimental period (8 weeks). The use of male Wistar rats was approved by the Ethics and Research Committee of the National School of Biological Sciences of the National Polytechnic Institute from Mexico [18,20,35,36].…”