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Antimicrobial and antioxidant peptides obtained from food proteins

Abstract:

Fruits, vegetables, oil seeds, nuts, cereals, spices, herbs, and grains are good sources of antioxidants such as phenolics, flavonoids and carotenoids. Research has been conducted on their antioxidant properties with in vivo and in vitro studies on extraction and purification of these components. Food habits are considered factors associated to health conditions. Presently, consumption of new functional food has increased, as the number of diseases related to nutritional habits has also increased: Consumers are interested in the potential benefits of nutritional support related to the different disease control or prevention. Functional food is known to play an important role in reducing health risks and stimulating health quality. The capacity of some plant-derived foods are known to reduce the risk of chronical diseases. The occurrence of secondary metabolites has been shown to exert a wide range of biological activities. In general, these metabolites have low potency as bioactive compounds when compared to pharmaceutical drugs. However, as they are ingested regularly and in significant amounts as part of the diet, they may have noticeable long-term physiological effects. Food proteins have biological activities such as antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Lactoferrin and lysozyme are two food proteins with potent antimicrobial activity. Food proteins can produce different peptides after hydrolysis with proteolytic enzymes. These peptides have different biological functions against the human organism. These peptides can have antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumoral and anti-inflammatory activities. Bioactive peptides have between 3-20 amino acid residues: their bioactivity depends on the sequence and amino acid compositions: The antimicrobial and antioxidant peptides generated from food proteins are being studied in depth. These peptides are safer and healthier than synthetic drugs. Antimicrobial and antioxidant peptides contain between 5-16 amino acid residues and have a cationic charge.