The general aim of this study was to evaluate physicochemical properties, prebiotic activity and anticancer potential of jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) seed flour. The drying processes of jackfruit seeds were performed at 50, 60 and 70 °C in order to choose the optimal temperature for obtaining the flour based on drying time, polyphenol content and antioxidant capacity. The experimental values of the moisture ratio during jackfruit seed drying at different temperatures were obtained using Page’s equation to establish the drying time for the required moisture between 5 and 7% in the flour. The temperature of 60 °C was considered adequate for obtaining good flour and for performing its characterization. The chemical composition, total dietary fiber, functional properties and antioxidant capacity were then examined in the flour. The seed flour contains carbohydrates (73.87 g/100 g), dietary fiber (31 g/100 g), protein (14 g/100 g) and lipids (1 g/100 g). The lipid profile showed that the flour contained monounsaturated (4 g/100 g) and polyunsaturated (46 g/100 g) fatty acids. Sucrose, glucose, and fructose were found to be the predominant soluble sugars, and non-digestible oligosaccharides like 1-kestose were also found. The total polyphenol content was 2.42 mg of gallic acid/g of the sample; furthermore, the antioxidant capacity obtained by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) was 901.45 µmol Trolox/100 g and 1607.87 µmol Trolox/100 g, respectively. The obtained flour exhibited good functional properties, such as water and oil absorption capacity, swelling power and emulsifier capacity. Additionally, this flour had a protective and preventive effect which is associated with the potential prebiotic activity in Lactobacillus casei and Bifidobacterium longum. These results demonstrate that jackfruit seed flour has good nutritional value and antioxidant and prebiotic activity, as well as potential protective effects and functional properties, making it an attractive food or ingredient in developing innovative functional products.

The interest in extracting kafirins (KAF), the main storage protein from sorghum grain has recently increased due to its gluten-free content and the significant scientific evidence showing the health benefits of the bioactive peptides from cereal grains in human diets. The objectives were to obtain the highest percentage of KAF extraction using amyloglucosidase as pretreatment to increase the extraction yield and predict the bioactive peptides in the KAF. In this study, pretreatments with amyloglucosidase increased the extraction yield of KAF compared with extraction methods using only ethanol and sodium metabisulfite. Two protein fragment sequences were identified from KAF extract and were evaluated for potential bioactive peptide using the BIOPEP-UWM database, which suggest that KAF proteins from white sorghum may be considered as good precursors of dipeptidyl peptidase-inhibitor, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, antioxidant and hypotensive peptides following chymotrypsin, thermolysin, and subtilisin and their combination. Average scores aligned using PeptideRanker confirmed KAF proteins' potential sources of bioactive peptides with over 5 peptides scored over 0.8. In addition, 31 unexplored peptide sequences that could have biological activity were identified. Our results suggest that KAF can be used in the peptide productions with potential biological activity and beyond.