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[Display omitted] • Whey static digestion produce high proteolysis, but resistant low MW peptides. • Peptides with high rate of hydrophobic amino acids but average surface hydrophobicity. • After digestion whey peptide promote antioxidant defense in enteric Caco-2 cell line. • Whey peptides inhibit ROS production and activates GSH and SOD pathways. • Val and Leu in the N-terminal region may be related with antioxidant activity. Enteric endothelial cells are the first structure to come in contact with digested food and may suffer oxidative damage by innumerous exogenous factors. Although peptides derived from whey digestion have presented antioxidant potential, little is known regarding antioxidant pathways activation in Caco-2 cell line model. Hence, we evaluated the ability to form whey peptides resistant to simulated gastrointestinal digestive processes, with potential antioxidant activity on gastrointestinal cells and associated with sequence structure and activity. Using the INFOGEST method of simulated static digestion, we achieved 35.2% proteolysis, with formation of peptides of low molecular mass (<600 Da) evaluated by FPLC. The digestion-resistant peptides showed a high proportion of hydrophobic and acidic amino acids, but with average surface hydrophobicity. We identified 24 peptide sequences, mainly originated from β-lactoglobulin, that exhibit various bioactivities. Structurally, the sequenced peptides predominantly contained the amino acids lysine and valine in the N-terminal region, and tyrosine in the C-terminal region, which are known to exhibit antioxidant properties. The antioxidant activity of the peptide digests was on average twice as potent as that of the protein isolates for the same concentration, as evaluated by ABTS, DPPH and ORAC. Evaluation of biological activity in Caco-2 intestinal cells, stimulated with hydrogen peroxide, showed that they attenuated the production of reactive oxygen species and prevented GSH reduction and SOD activity increase. Caco-2 cells were not responsive to nitric oxide secretion. This study suggests that whey peptides formed during gastric digestion exhibit biological antioxidant activity, without the need for previously hydrolysis with exogenous enzymes for supplement application. The study's primary contribution was demonstrating the antioxidant activity of whey peptides in maintaining the gastrointestinal epithelial cells, potentially preventing oxidative stress that affects the digestive system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Faced with the search for healthy products that provide additional benefits to consumers’ health, the main objectives of this work were to develop a low-calorie preserve containing prebiotics (lactulose and polydextrose) and to evaluate the effects of these prebiotics on oxidative stress and colon carcinogenesis in male rats treated with 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH). A total of 62.5% w/w of the sucrose in conventional preserves was replaced by polydextrose, and lactulose was added at 0%, 16%, 19.5% or 23% w/w concentrations. The acceptance of these four low-calorie guava preserve samples and the conventional sample was equal (P >0.05), with a score of 6.49. The level of degradation of lactulose was low (18.45g100g−1 lactulose), ensuring that even at a lower concentration of this prebiotic (16% w/w), the concentration remained above the minimum level considered functional. We found that consumption of the low-calorie preserves with prebiotics does not have an effect on the development of mucin-negative ACF and classical ACF in the initiation phase of the mutagenic process. However, the consumption of 1.5g of the preserve/rat/day potentiated lipid peroxidation and proteic oxidation in the liver. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]