Contribution of bioactive compounds from meat
Abstract
A bioactive compound can be defined as a compound that has an effect on a living organism, tissue or cell. In protein-rich
meat and meat products, bioactive compounds comprise endogenous peptides and peptides released through digestion.
Carnosine and glutathione are the main peptides with antioxidant properties already present in meat. Numerous peptides are
released through meat digestion having potentially different bioactivity: antihypertensive, antioxidant, antidiabetic or
antimicrobial to cite a few. Such potential bioactivity can be modulated by meat processing. The development of bioinformatics
and databases is a precious tool that can predict peptide degradation by digestive enzymes and possible
bioactivity. Nevertheless, test on cellular models and in vivo should be conducted to confirm.