Food Protein Digestomics

Digestomics can be defined as the systematic characterization of the biomolecular complement produced by food digestion. Protein digestomics, that essentially corresponds to tracking the fate of dietary proteins in human body, assumes special relevance because food-derived peptides are virtually capable of inducing positive (health-promoting) or negative (allergy, adverse reactions) effects. In general, food digestion generates extremely heterogeneous mixtures, which include free amino acids and variously sized (poly) peptides, in addition to products from other macro- and micronutrients. Modern proteomics and peptidomics have enabled the comprehensive study of complex digestomes. On the other hand, several gaps still need to be bridged to define kinetics and dynamics of food-derived peptides, also as a result of food structure, in order to ultimately assess the effects of dietary proteins on human health. This chapter surveys the recent advances in the comprehension of mechanisms of food degradation, highlighting research trends and still unaddressed issues.