Enrichment of ACE inhibitory peptides in navy bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) using lactic acid bacteria

The present study was conducted to explore a novel strategy to enhance angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activities of navy bean by preparation of navy bean milk (NBM) which was then subjected to fermentation of four lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains, namely, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus helveticus MB2-1, Lactobacillus plantarum B1-6, and Lactobacillus plantarum 70810. With the exception of L. helveticus MB2-1, the other three selected strains had good growth performances in NBM with viable counts increased to log 8.30-8.39 cfu ml(-1) during 6 h of fermentation, and thus were selected for the following investigations. Protein contents of NBM significantly reduced when treated with L. bulgaricus and L. plantarum B1-6, and the electrophoresis patterns showed the preferable proteins for LAB strains to hydrolyze were α- and β-type phaseolins, whereas γ-type phaseolin was resistant to hydrolysis. RP-HPLC analysis demonstrated all fermented NBM had higher intensities of peaks with retention times between 2.5 and 3.5 min indicative of formation of small peptides. All fermented NBM showed higher ACE inhibitory activity compared to the unfermented ones, for which 2 h, 3 h, and 5 h were found to be the optimum fermentation periods for respectively L. plantarum 70810, L. plantarum B1-6 and L. bulgaricus, with IC50 values of 109 ± 5.1, 108 ± 1.1, and 101 ± 2.2 μg protein ml(-1). The subsequent in vitro gastrointestinal simulation afforded all fermented extracts reduced IC50 values and the extracts fermented by L. plantarum B1-6 exerted the lowest IC50 value of 21 ± 2.1 μg protein ml(-1). The research has broadened our knowledge bases on the effect of LAB fermentation on the degradation of navy bean proteins and the capacity to release ACE inhibitory peptides. The approach was promising to obtain probiotic products with potential to serve as functional ingredients targeting hypertension.