Contents lists available at ScienceDirect LWT - Food Science and Technology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lwt Effect of thermal processing on cholesterol synthesis, solubilisation into micelles and antioxidant activities using peptides of Vigna angularis and Vicia faba Jawad Ashraf a,1 , Muhammad Awais a,1 , Liya Liu a,* , Muhammad Issa Khan b , Li-Tao Tong a , Yuling Ma a , Lili Wang a , Xianrong Zhou a , Sumei Zhou a,* a Key Laboratory of Agro-Products Processing, Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, 100193, China b National Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan ARTICLE INFO Keywords: < 3 kDa peptides Cooking Cholesterol HMG Co-A reductase Scavenging activity ABSTRACT Bioactive peptides are generally obtained from plant protein hydrolysates. These peptides possess physiological activities, such as lowering blood cholesterol. In the current study, proteins from adzuki bean (Vigna angularis) and faba bean (Vicia faba) were thermally processed, and low molecular weight peptides (< 3 kDa) were iso- lated to assess their efficacy for inhibiting cholesterol synthesis and its solubilisation. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) results showed higher peptide concentrations after thermal processing. Inhibition of cholesterol solubilisation into micelles and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme-A reductase (HMG Co-AR) catalytic activity was evaluated. After processing, the faba bean peptides showed significantly (p < 0.05) in- creased inhibition of cholesterol solubilisation into micelles (45.1 ± 1.6%), whereas peptides from the native faba bean protein exhibited significantly increased (p < 0.05) inhibition of HMG Co-AR catalytic activity (84.1 ± 2.7%) compared with the adzuki bean and thermally processed peptides. After processing, the adzuki bean peptides showed significantly reduced scavenging activity compared with peptides obtained from the native protein. This study is the first report demonstrating that the peptides from adzuki and faba beans inhibit cholesterol homeostasis via distinctive ways and act as antioxidants. 1. Introduction Atherosclerosis is an increasing concern worldwide and is associated with high blood cholesterol levels. Thus, scientists and researchers importantly need to focus on the development of foods that reduced cholesterol levels in blood. Hypercholesterolaemia, hyperglycaemia, and hyperinsulinaemia are major risk factors for the development of coronial heart disease (Simon & Vijayakumar, 2013). In the human body, cholesterol transport and physiological equilibrium functions are interlinked with complex mechanisms, and the human body lacks the ability to transform sterols. Thus, various enzymes are involved in its metabolism (Marques et al., 2015). Changes in activities of transport proteins and membrane enzymes aid in the synthesis of cholesterol, thus affecting its homeostasis, i.e., balance between internal absorption and endogenous cholesterol production (Goldstein & Brown, 1990). HMG Co-AR is a reductase enzyme that serves as a control target for the inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis. As an alternative mechanism, absorption of cholesterol from dietary sources is helpful to maintain body cholesterol levels (Zanoni, Aiello, Arnoldi, & Lammi, 2017). The role of proteins from food in health outcomes goes beyond the nutritional value of supplying amino acids. Biologically active peptides are produced from the protein precursors as a result of food processing via gastrointestinal digestion, cooking, fermentation, ripening or en- zymatic hydrolysis (Carrasco-Castilla, Hernández-Álvarez, Jiménez- Martínez, Gutiérrez-López, & Dávila-Ortiz, 2012). Bio-active peptides act by modulating exogenous cholesterol levels or targeting endogenous cholesterol levels through metabolic pathways (Udenigwe & Rouvinen- Watt, 2015). The fundamental process that impacts exogenous choles- terol levels primarily involves inhibiting intestinal cholesterol absorp- tion. On the other hand, endogenous cholesterol levels are reduced https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2020.109504 Received 27 August 2019; Received in revised form 23 April 2020; Accepted 25 April 2020 * Corresponding author. Key Laboratory of Agro-Products Processing, Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, 100193, China. E-mail addresses: liuliya1218@163.com (L. Liu), zhousumei@caas.cn (S. Zhou). 1 The first two authors contribute equally. LWT - Food Science and Technology 129 (2020) 109504 Available online 05 May 2020 0023-6438/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T