Bioactive Peptides | 20 Aug 2025

Source: PIB 

A study finds that bioactive peptides (BAPs)  from traditional fermented foods can deliver health benefits tailored to specific population groups, opening scope for personalized nutrition in India. 

• Bioactive Peptides (BAPs): Bioactive peptides are short chains of 2–20 amino acids that remain active after digestion and directly affect body functions.  
  • They are essentially "hidden" or "encrypted" within the larger structure of a parent protein.  
    • They become "activated" or "released" when the parent protein is broken down by enzymes during digestion, fermentation, or other forms of processing. 
  • BAPs interact with biomolecules via electrostatic forces, hydrogen bonding, and hydrophobic interactions, providing antimicrobial, antihypertensive, antioxidant, and immune-modulatory effects. 
  • Peptides and proteins are both made up of amino acid chains linked by peptide bonds.  
    • The key difference is that peptides are shorter chains, while proteins typically have more than 50 amino acids. 
• Health Benefits: BAPs can regulate blood pressure, blood sugar, immunity, inflammation, and influence cardiac and metabolic health. 
  • However, the way biopeptides work varies from person to person due to factors such as genetic makeup, gut microbiota, diet, and overall health.  
    • This highlights the importance of precision nutrition, where diets and health plans are tailored to an individual’s unique biology, an approach particularly crucial in a diverse population like India. 

Amino Acids:  

• Amino acids are organic compounds that act as the building blocks of proteins, essential for growth, repair, and normal functioning of the body.  They are of three types: 
  • Essential amino acids, which the body cannot produce and must be obtained from food (such as histidine, leucine, and lysine). 
  • Nonessential amino acids, which the body can synthesize on its own (such as alanine, glutamic acid, and glycine). 
  • Conditionally essential amino acids are usually not essential, except in times of illness and stress (eg: arginine, cysteine, and glutamine )