Journal of Nutraceuticals and Food Science

Novel health potential of bioactive peptides from egg albumin

Bioactive peptides, identified in various foods, have increasingly received scientific attention for the notable broad scope of their positive impact on human health beyond their nutritional characteristics. The most attractive feature of bioactive peptides is their ability to display very few side effects in humans due to their natural sources. Bioactive peptides are inactive within the sequence of the protein molecule and are released during in-vivo processing such as gastrointestinal digestion or in-vitro enzymatic hydrolysis of food proteins. The science of bioactive peptides involves the exploration of physiological activities of food peptides to formulate novel candidates for human health that may reduce the risk of disease as well as contribute to food safety. Egg albumen is a valuable source of bioactive proteins with diverse structural entities and many of them possess specific biological activities that represent potential ingredients of health-promotion. Thus, egg proteins offer tremendous opportunities for the discovery of bioactive peptide with the hope for the treatment of emerging human diseases and formulation of nutraceutical agents. In this work I will introduce an approach, in which new potential bioactive peptides were found encrypted into an egg white protein. This exciting finding explores novel bio-active peptides which heralding a fascinating opportunity for their potential candidacy as anti-microbial, anti-inflammation and anti-cancer therapeutic peptides for the treatment as well as risk reduction of emerging human diseases and for nutraceutical applications.

Author(s): Hisham R. Ibrahim

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