PROSPEPT - PROSPECTING BIOACTIVE PEPTIDES FROM INNOVATIVE TERRESTRIAL ANIMAL RESOURCES TOWARDS A NEW FOOD CONCEPT FOR OLDER PERSONS

There is a growing demand for new functional foods targeted to enhance or maintain mental alertness, improve gut and cardiovascular health and wellbeing of older persons. Yet, the food industry has been rather slow in developing such innovative foods, due to several critical challenges, including: (i) the discovery of the potential bioactivity of beneficial compounds, (ii) the establishment of optimal intake levels, and (iii) the development of adequate food delivery matrices and product formulations.

PROSPEPT overall aim is: (i) to strengthen European cost-effective and environmental-friendly production of bioactive peptides from animal origin, which have a huge potential to be used as functional food ingredients due to their multifunctional bioactivities (microbiome modulation, immunomodulation, neuroprotection, as well as anti-coagulant, anti-diabetic, anti-adipogenic and anti-hypercholesterolemia properties), along with their already described anti-microbial activity; (ii) to reinforce the design of personalized functional foods containing bioactive peptides and demonstrate the health benefits of such foods.