**5. Conclusions**

Co-products are inevitably generated in food production, distribution, processing and consumption. These protein rich and low value materials could provide a

**169**

**Author details**

Jirawat Yongsawatdigul\* and Ali Hamzeh

provided the original work is properly cited.

\*Address all correspondence to: jirawat@sut.ac.th

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

School of Food Technology, Institute of Agricultural Technology, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

*Bioactive Peptides from Agriculture and Food Industry Co-Products: Peptide Structure…*

great source of bioactive peptides production. Many peptides with various activities have been purified and identified, however, their activities need to be confirmed via *in vivo* studies and human trials, so that they could be further develop to functional food products. The main obstacle of developing these peptides in functional foods is their structural modification after ingestion via proteolytic degradation in gastrointestinal tract and epithelial absorption, which would likely lead to a reduction in bioactivity. Although some peptides, particularly those containing Pro, could stay intact within digestion and absorption, structural modification usually happen in the route. Encapsulation of susceptible peptides or applying protease inhibitor as well as permeation enhancer in epithelial cells could facilitate the intact peptides absorption. Although these strategies might allow peptides to reach the target organ and exert certain physiological effect, their safety, particularly the use of protease inhibitors, needs further investigation regarding their side effects under

This work was financially supported by the National Research Council of Thailand under the project Food Innovation for Safety and Value Creation of Nakhonchaiburin (SUT3-305-61-12-06). Postdoctoral fellowship to AH supported

by Suranaree University of Technology is also greatly appreciated.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94959*

physiological condition.

**Acknowledgements**

**Conflict of interest**

*Bioactive Peptides from Agriculture and Food Industry Co-Products: Peptide Structure… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94959*

great source of bioactive peptides production. Many peptides with various activities have been purified and identified, however, their activities need to be confirmed via *in vivo* studies and human trials, so that they could be further develop to functional food products. The main obstacle of developing these peptides in functional foods is their structural modification after ingestion via proteolytic degradation in gastrointestinal tract and epithelial absorption, which would likely lead to a reduction in bioactivity. Although some peptides, particularly those containing Pro, could stay intact within digestion and absorption, structural modification usually happen in the route. Encapsulation of susceptible peptides or applying protease inhibitor as well as permeation enhancer in epithelial cells could facilitate the intact peptides absorption. Although these strategies might allow peptides to reach the target organ and exert certain physiological effect, their safety, particularly the use of protease inhibitors, needs further investigation regarding their side effects under physiological condition.
