Bioactive peptides (BPs) derived from animal and plant proteins are important food functional ingredients with many promising health-promoting properties. In the food industry, enzymatic hydrolysis is the most common technique employed for the liberation of BPs from proteins in which conventional heat treatment is used as pre-treatment to enhance hydrolytic action. In recent years, application of non-thermal food processing technologies such as ultrasound (US), high-pressure processing (HPP), and pulsed electric field (PEF) as pre-treatment methods has gained considerable research attention owing to the enhancement in yield and bioactivity of resulting peptides. This review provides an overview of bioactivities of peptides obtained from animal and plant proteins and an insight into the impact of US, HPP, and PEF as non-thermal treatment prior to enzymolysis on the generation of food-derived BPs and resulting bioactivities. US, HPP, and PEF were reported to improve antioxidant, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory, antimicrobial, and antidiabetic properties of the food-derived BPs. The primary modes of action are due to conformational changes of food proteins caused by US, HPP, and PEF, improving the susceptibility of proteins to protease cleavage and subsequent proteolysis. However, the use of other non-thermal techniques such as cold plasma, radiofrequency electric field, dense phase carbon dioxide, and oscillating magnetic fields has not been examined in the generation of BPs from food proteins.

In this study, the effect of different isolation techniques on the isolated proteins from pigeon pea was investigated. Water, methanol, ammonium sulfate, and acetone were used for the precipitation of proteins from pigeon pea. Proximate composition, and antinutritional and functional properties of the pigeon pea flour and the isolated proteins were measured. Data generated were statistically analyzed. The proximate composition of the water‐extracted protein isolate was moisture 8.30%, protein 91.83%, fat 0.25%, ash 0.05%, and crude fiber 0.05%. The methanol‐extracted protein isolate composition was moisture 7.87%, protein 91.83%, fat 0.17%, and ash 0.13%, while crude fiber and carbohydrates were not detected. The composition of the ammonium sulfate‐extracted protein isolate was moisture 7.73%, protein 91.73%, fat 0.36, ash 0.13%, and crude fiber 0.67%. The acetone‐extracted protein isolate composition was moisture 8.03%, protein 91.50%, ash 0.67%, and fat 0.30%, but crude fiber and carbohydrates were not detected. The isolate precipitated with ammonium sulfate displayed the highest foaming capacity (37.63%) and foaming stability (55.75%). Isolates precipitated with methanol and acetone had the highest water absorption capacity (160%). Pigeon pea protein isolates extracted with methanol and ammonium sulfate had the highest oil absorption capacity of 145%. Protein isolates recovered through acetone and methanol had the highest emulsifying capacity of 2.23% and emulsifying stability of 91.47%, respectively. The proximate composition of the recovered protein isolates were of high purity. This shows the efficiency of the extraction techniques. The isolates had desirable solubility index. All the isolation techniques brought significant impact on the characteristics of the isolated pigeon pea protein.

The effect of heating at different temperatures (60, 80, 90, 110, and 130 °C) on the total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, and phenolic compounds present in plum and mahaleb fruits was investigated. The antioxidant activity values and total phenolic contents of fresh plum (93.82% measured by DPPH method, 787.79 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100 g dry weight determined by Folin method) and mahaleb fruits (81.80%, 634.47 mg GAE/100 g dry weight) were higher than plum and mahaleb fruits dried at different temperatures ( p < 0.05). Generally, the heating process caused a reduction in both total phenolic content and antioxidant activity for plum and mahaleb. While (+)-catechin (92.62 mg/kg), 1,2-dihydroxybenzene (132.15 mg/kg), gallic acid (107.01 mg/kg), and 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (74.59 mg/kg) are the key phenolic compounds in fresh plum, (+)-catechin, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, 1,2-dihydroxybenzene, and syringic and caffeic acids were the major phenolic compounds of mahaleb fruits. The polyphenol content of fruits and the class of phenolics present are significantly affected by heating temperature.

The use of natural ingredients for managing diabetes is becoming more popular in recent times due to the several adverse effects associated with synthetic antidiabetic medications. In this study, we investigated the in vitro antidiabetic potential (through inhibition of α-glucosidase (AG) and α-amylase (AA)) of hydrolysates from lupin proteins pretreated with ultrasound and hydrolyzed using alcalase (ACT) and flavourzyme (FCT). We further fractionated ACT and FCT into three molecular weight fractions. Unfractionated ACT and FCT showed significantly (p < 0.05) higher AG (IC₅₀ value = 1.65 mg/mL and 1.91 mg/mL) and AA (IC₅₀ value = 1.66 mg/mL and 1.98 mg/mL) inhibitory activities than their ultrafiltrated fractions, where lower IC₅₀ values indicate higher inhibitory activities. Then, ACT and FCT were subjected to peptide sequencing using LC-MS-QTOF to identify the potential AG and AA inhibitors. Molecular docking was performed on peptides with the highest number of hotspots and PeptideRanker score to study their interactions with AG and AA enzymes. Among the peptides identified, SPRRF, FE, and RR were predicted to be the most active peptides against AG, while AA inhibitors were predicted to be RPR, PPGIP, and LRP. Overall, hydrolysates prepared from lupin proteins using alcalase and flavourzyme may be useful in formulating functional food for managing diabetics.