Gastrointestinal Digestion of Food Proteins under the Effects of Released Bioactive Peptides on Digestive Health

Abstract

The gastrointestinal tract represents a specialized interface between the organism and the external environment. Because of its direct contact with lumen substances, the modulation of digestive functions by dietary substances is supported by a growing body of evidence. Food-derived bioactive peptides have demonstrated a plethora of activities in the organism with increasing interest toward their impact over the digestive system and related physiological effects. This review updates the biological effects of food proteins, specifically milk and soybean proteins, associated to gastrointestinal health and highlights the study of digestion products and released peptides, the identification of the active form/s, and the evaluation of the mechanisms of action underlying their relationship with the digestive cells and receptors. The approach toward the modifications that food proteins and peptides undergo during gastrointestinal digestion and their bioavailability is a crucial step for current investigations on the field. The recent literature on the regulation of digestive functions by peptides has been mostly considered in terms of their influence on gastrointestinal motility and signaling, oxidative damage and inflammation, and malignant cellular proliferation. A final section regarding the actual challenges and future perspectives in this scientific topic is critically discussed.

Production and Characterization of Medium-Sized and Short Antioxidant Peptides from Soy Flour-Simulated Gastrointestinal Hydrolysate

“…Bioactive peptides can be released from the parent protein during food processing (such as ripening, fermentation, and cooking), storage, or gastrointestinal digestion [2,3]. For research and industrial applications, several methodological approaches are available to obtain potential bioactive peptides encrypted in proteins, including chemical, physical, and biological ones.…”

“…Since dietary proteins represent a cheap and valuable source of bioactive peptides, several foods of both animal and plant origin [2,6,7] have been investigated for this aim, including milk [3,[8][9][10], meat, fish [11,12], egg, cereals, and soybean [1,3,7,13].…”

Konjac Glucomannan Oligosaccharides Prevent Intestinal Inflammation Through SIGNR1‐Mediated Regulation of Alternatively Activated Macrophages

“…[42] It is worth noting that, other than prebiotic functional oligosaccharides of KMOS, dietary proteins/peptides and unsaturated fatty acids also show anti-inflammatory effects and protect against intestinal damage through counteracting with oxidative-inflammatory imbalances. [43][44] For the treatment of IBD, intestinal macrophages have been considered as a novel potential target as they participate in shaping symbiosis of host-microbiota and modulating immune homeostasis, which contribute to the management of gut inflammation. [45][46] Depending on the surrounding microenvironmental stimuli, human intestinal Mϕ (CD45 + HLA -DR + CD14 + CD64 + ) can be divided into subsets based on the expression of CD11c, CCR2, and CX3CR1.…”

Lunasin Peptide is a Modulator of the Immune Response in the Human Gastrointestinal Tract

“…Bioactive peptide lunasin is not only partially resistant to the action of digestive enzymes, but it is also absorbed so it can be detected in the human plasma after soy protein intake. [ 8 ] Despite the gastrointestinal tract is an obvious target for bioactive ingested compounds, [ 29 ] little is known about the physiological relevance of lunasin in human intestinal cells.…”