Biologically Active Peptides: Identification, Production and Biofunctionality

According to reports from the World Health Organization (WHO), nontransmissible chronic diseases, like diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, hypertension, and cancer, among others, are the main causes of death worldwide, comprising 70% of the total deaths. Therefore, there is a great interest in the search for alternative biofunctional agents that can contribute to the prevention and treatment of these types of diseases. Particularly, biologically active peptides (BAPs) represent an attractive and promising alternative due to their therapeutic potential, since they can act in similar ways to synthetic drugs. In this respect, BAPs extracted from food proteins of vegetable origin have shown antioxidant, antihypertensive, antidiabetic, anticancer, antithrombotic, anticholesterolemic, immunomodulatory, antiobesity, antiaging, and antimicrobial properties, thus showing great potential as bioactive ingredients in functional foods and pharmaceutical formulas. This chapter describes the main procedures performed for the identification and production of BAPs, as well as the health benefits of their biofunctionalities found in bioassays in vitro and in vivo, the elucidation of their mechanisms of action and the therapeutic applications of BAPs originated from underutilized vegetable sources.