The potential role of milk-derived peptides in cardiovascular disease

Abstract

Bioactive peptides derived from milk proteins are of particular interest to the food industry due to the potential functional and physiological roles that they demonstrate, particularly in relation to cardiovascular disease (CVD). By 2020 it is estimated that heart disease and stroke will become the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Acute and chronic cardiovascular events may result from alterations in the activity of the renin-angiotensin aldosterone system and activation of the coagulation cascade and of platelets. Medications that inhibit angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) are widely prescribed in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease. ACE inhibitory peptides are of particular interest due to the presence of encrypted inhibitory peptide sequences. In particular, Ile-Pro-Pro and Val-Pro-Pro are fore runners in ACE inhibition, and have been incorporated into commercial products. Additionally, studies to identify additional novel peptides with similar bio-activity and the ability to withstand digestion during transit through the gastrointestinal tract are ongoing. The potential sources of such peptides in cheese and other dairy products are discussed. Challenges to the bio-availability of such peptides in the gastro intestinal tract are also reviewed. Activation of platelets and the coagulation cascade play a central role in the progression of cardiovascular disease. Platelets from such patients show spontaneous aggregation and an increased sensitivity to agonists which results in vascular damage and endothelial dysfunction associated with CVD. Peptide sequences exhibiting anti-thrombotic activity have been identified from fermented milk products. Studies on such peptides are reviewed and their effects on platelet function are discussed. Finally the ability of food derived peptides to decrease the formation of blood clots (thrombi) is reviewed. In conclusion, due to the widespread nature of cardiovascular disease, the identification of food derived compounds that exhibit a beneficial effect in such widespread areas of CVD regulation will have strong clinical potential. Due to the perception that food derived products have an acceptable risk profile they have the potential for widespread acceptance by the public. In this review, selected biological effects relating to CVD are discussed with a view to providing essential information to researchers.

Structural and functional characterization of hemp seed (Cannabis sativa L.) protein-derived antioxidant and antihypertensive peptides

“…Food proteins derived from different plant and animal sources have demonstrated multifunctional physiological activities in disease prevention both in vitro and in vivo conditions. For instance, several studies have isolated bioactive peptides from plant sources including, pea , flax , sunflower (Ren, Zheng, Liu & Liu, 2010), soy proteins , rapeseed (Mäkinen, Johannson, Vegarud Gerd, Pihlava & Pihlanto, 2012), hemp seed , chickpea (Kou, Gao, Zhang, Wang & Wang, 2013), alfalfa (Xie, Huang, Xu & Jin, 2008a), wheat (Thewissen, Pauly, Celus, Brijs & Delcour, 2011), sweet potato and animal origin including egg (You, Udenigwe, Aluko & Wu, 2010), fish (Sampath Kumar, Nazeer & Jaiganesh, 2012), bovine lactoferrin (Ruiz-Giménez et al, 2012), tuna (Qian, Je & Kim, 2007), milk (Phelan & Kerins, 2011), shark liver (Huang & Wu, 2010), chicken bone (Cheng et al, 2008), cuttlefish (Balti et al, 2012), porcine skin (Hsu, Tung, Huang & Jao, 2013) and salmon (Ahn, Jeon, Kim & Je, 2012;Girgih, Udenigwe, Hasan, Gill & Aluko, 2013).…”

Antihypertensive Peptides from Food Proteins

“…For both the C12-peptide and the bonito protein-derived peptide Leu-Lys-Pro-Asn-Met, it was concluded that a cause and effect relationship has not been established between the consumption of the peptides and maintenance of normal BP [128][129]. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) assesses the scientific evidence for health claims under the 1990 Nutrition Labelling and Education Act [130] and the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act [131].…”

Further evidence that a new type of Japanese pickles reduce the blood pressure of spontaneously hypertensive rats

“…In order to address this issue, the addition of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) 2,3) and angiotensin-convertingenzyme (ACE)-inhibitory peptides [4][5][6][7][8] to the pickles was studied. Such compounds exhibit antihypertensive effects and also have different blood pressure-reducing mechanisms.…”