Bioactive Peptides from Legumes and Their Bioavailability

Abstract

Bioactive peptides (BPs) isolated from legumes have functional properties as healthy foods. These functional effects depend on their stability and bioavailability in the gastrointestinal tract before reaching the target organs. Therefore, it is necessary to disclose the factors that influence it and discuss the technical processing to develop its utilisation. This chapter discusses and summarises the bioactive activities of BPs from various legumes, factors and mechanisms related to the bio-assessability, stability, bio-availability and bioactivity of BPs. Furthermore, the development of BPs bioseparation was also discussed. The results show that the nature of BPs varies greatly depending on the legume source and the production method. Factors that influenced the bio-availability of BPs include molecular weight, charge, amino acid sequence, the presence of specific residues and hydrophobic amino acids, and resistance to the action of peptidase while in the digestive tract. However, some BPs showed increased bio-accessibility and bio-availability after being hydrolyzed by digestive enzymes. Processing technologies such as encapsulation allowing BPs to enter the body and undergo release and degradation by enzymes digestion. Further studies are required to understand the increase in the bioavailability of BPs, the safety of the food components produced, and their use in producing functional foods.