Identification of β-casomorphins 3 to 7 in cheeses and in their in vitro gastrointestinal digestates

Bioactive peptides in ripened cheeses: release during technological processes and resistance to the gastrointestinal tract

“…The presence of peptides with opioid activities in several commercial cheeses varieties, including hard, semi‐hard, and mold‐ripened cheeses was reported by Sienkiewicz‐Szłapka et al ., 33 De Noni and Cattaneo, 34 and De Noni et al 35 . Different cheese‐derived opioid peptides may exert agonist or antagonist activities when binding to specific receptors in the human body.…”

“…In 2009, a review published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) about the potential health effects of β ‐casomorphins concluded that it was not possible to establish a cause‐effect relationship between the intake of BCM7 or related peptides and the development of non‐communicable diseases, based on the literature available at that time 45 . Accordingly, even though the presence of BCM7 had already been reported in different cheese varieties, 33–35 the study conducted by De Noni et al ., 35 which identified BCM7 both in cheese samples and in their in vitro gastrointestinal digestates, suggests that the amount of BCM7 released in the in vitro digestion of a serving size of the studied cheeses (Grana Padano, Maasdan, Gorgonzola, and Cheddar) are not likely to exert a potential physiological effect, considering the concentrations of BCM7 detected in the intestinal digestates and information available in the literature about the concentrations required for an agonist opioid activity. Future studies are still necessary to clarify this polemic question fully.…”

“…Several bioactive effects have already been attributed to the presence of biopeptides in commercial ripened cheeses, such as antimicrobial, 5,30–32 opioid, 33–35 antioxidant, 5,31 mineral‐binding, 31 antihypertensive, 36 and angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory effects 5,9,36,37 . Among the peptides with different bioactive effects already reported as naturally present in commercial cheeses, peptides with antihypertensive potential are the most studied and well‐characterized in the literature.…”

“…To understand better the changes that occur in the bioactive peptides profile during gastrointestinal digestion of cheeses, several studies were performed using static and dynamic models that simulate the gastrointestinal digestion in vitro 17–22,35,71 . Despite the changes in peptide profiles during the digestion and the hydrolysis of some bioactive sequences, studies have shown the bioactive potential of cheeses after digestion and potential intestinal absorption of some bioactive fragments.…”

BCM-7: Opioid-like Peptide with Potential Role in Disease Mechanisms

“…Casemorphins were first discovered in the late 1970s for their opioid-like properties [20,21]. The β-casomorphins (BCMs) are exogenous peptides released during digestion that can function as opioid-like molecules, acting as opioid receptor agonists [22]. These peptides can be any opioid protein structures formed during the digestion of casein, and the casomorphins relevant to human health are those formed from β-caseins.…”