Structural-features of food-derived bioactive peptides with anti-inflammatory activity: A brief review

Chronic inflammatory conditions such as obesity, type-2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Hence, much research interest in bioactive peptides has been stimulated due to lack of potent pharmacological interventions. Although many such peptides have been identified from food proteins, insufficient information is available on their structure-function relationship. Presence of hydrophobic and positively charged amino acids is a common occurrence for the peptides with anti-inflammatory properties. However, inconsistent findings have also been reported. Most of the food-derived peptides exhibited their anti-inflammatory activities primarily by inhibiting signaling components of either NF-kappa B or MAPK pathway, which are the two major pathways involved in chronic inflammation following uncontrolled signal activation. This review highlighted the structural requirements of the peptides to exhibit anti-inflammatory activity based on the current knowledge about food-derived anti-inflammatory peptides and their underlying molecular mechanisms of action.