A mini-review on health and nutritional aspects of cheese with a focus on bioactive peptides

This paper is a mini-review on the nutritional value of cheese with a focus on the identification of different biologically active peptides in cheese and the evidence built about their health benefits. From a nutritional point of view, cheese is a rich source of essential nutrients such as proteins, vitamins, minerals, and also short chain fatty acids that are important as part of a healthy diet. In addition, during cheese ripening, casein is hydrolyzed into a large variety of peptides by proteases and peptidases from milk, rennet, starter culture, and secondary microbial flora. Some of these peptides are structurally similar to endogenous peptides that play a crucial role in the organism as hormones, neurotransmitters, or antibiotics. Some of them can also survive gastrointestinal digestion or serve as precursors of the final peptide form. Furthermore, some of these cheese-derived peptides can interact with the same receptors than endogenous peptides and exert agonistic or antagonistic effects in the organism. This paper reviews the identification of different biologically active peptides in cheese and the evidence built about their health benefits. Activities have been mainly proven by using in vitro assays and in cell cultures, but in some cases the activity has been also assessed in animal models. In any case, there is still a long way to demonstrate the hidden health benefits of cheese in humans.