Ashraf Azqa, Guo Yueting, Yang Tingting, Ud Din Aiman Salah, Ahmad Khurshid, Li Wenjun, Hou Hu
State Key Laboratory of Marine Food Processing & Safety Control, College of Food Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, no. 1299, Sansha Road, Qingdao, Shandong Province 266404, P.R. China.
Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, no. 17, Chunhui Road, Laishan District, Yantai, Shandong Province 264003, P.R. China.
J Agric Food Chem. 2025 Jan 15;73(2):1000-1013. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.4c06800. Epub 2025 Jan 6.
A variety of bioactive peptides with unique and diverse structures could be found in microalgae with various bioactivities including antioxidant, antihypertensive, and antibacterial bioactivities. Food products containing microalgae peptides hold significant health and nutrition potential. Peptide liberation through enzymatic and other processes enhanced protein extraction, and some animal studies were conducted to verify their health-promoting effects. Various studies have focused on developing practical methods for their production, purification, and identification of bioactive peptides. The emerging trends of in silico peptide therapies, computational approaches, artificial intelligence, and the prospects of microalgae peptide research are briefly highlighted. Moreover, this article focused on the potential of microalgae-derived peptides as functional food ingredients their role in promoting health, and their future applications in nutraceutical industries. It also discussed the challenges of bioavailability in functional foods.