The Bioactive Side of Peas: Bio-functional Potential of Pea-Derived Ingredients on Cardiovascular Health.

Legumes are important sources of high-value ingredients for the development of healthy foods. This study evaluated biological activities related to cardiovascular health -namely antioxidant, antihypertensive, and antithrombotic- associated with peptides from three yellow pea–derived ingredients: flour (F), protein isolate (I), and naturally fermented flour (FF; flour/water 14.3%, w/w, 24 h, 37 °C). Ingredients were subjected to in vitro simulated gastrointestinal digestion. Soluble digests (FDd, IDd, FFDd) were recovered and further treated with cholestyramine to reduce bile salts (bioaccessible fractions: FDb, IDb, FFDb). Degrees of proteolysis reached 37, 36, and 53% (ID, FD, FFD, respectively), indicating that fermentation enhanced protein digestion. Digests exhibited high protein solubility, and a predominance of < 6.5 kDa peptides with differences between samples. Cholestyramine treatment reduced soluble protein content. Bioaccessible fractions showed low cytotoxicity and effectively reduced reactive oxygen species in Caco-2 TC7 cells (IC50: 0.38, 0.62, 0.28 mg protein/mL for IDb, FDb, and FFDb, respectively), with FFDb displaying the strongest intracellular antioxidant activity. Antithrombotic effects were dose-dependent in digests (IC50: 2.1, 2.5, 3.1 mg/mL for IDd, FDd, and FFDd, respectively) but absent in bioaccessible fractions. All digests inhibited angiotensin-converting enzyme (IC50: 1.7, 2.0, 1.2 mg/mL for IDd, FDd, and FFDd, respectively), with bioaccessible fractions showing greater potency ​​(1.25, 0.412, and 0.534 mg/mL). Consistently, in silico gastrointestinal digestion of major pea proteins indicated the presence of digestion-derived peptide pools associated with cardiovascular health–related functions. Overall, peptides released from pea proteins may contribute to the potential prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Fermentation improved digestibility, antioxidant and ACE inhibitory activities.