Wataru Mizunoya

Venison, a type of game meat, has several health benefits because it contains not only high protein and low fat but also bioactive peptides with several physiological properties, including antioxidative and angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitory properties. The aim of the present study was to investigate the antioxidant activity of venison treated by in vitro cooking and gastrointestinal digestion. We subjected venison along with pork and beef to in vitro cooking and digestion and assessed their antioxidant activity via 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging (DPPH‐RS) and hydrophilic oxygen radical absorbance capacity (H‐ORAC) assays. The peptide contents of all types of cooked and digested meat samples were higher than those of the untreated and cooked samples. The DPPH‐RS activities and H‐ORAC of digested venison, pork, and beef were increased compared with those of untreated samples. DPPH‐RS activity was significantly higher in the digested venison samples than in the digested pork and beef samples. In this study, several fractions of digested venison from the chromatography exhibited DPPH‐RS activity. Peptide analysis, using liquid‐chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry, unveiled two peptides DIDDLELTLAK and TQTVCNFTDGALVQHQEWDGK with high DPPH‐RS activities. Thus, venison is a rich source of antioxidant peptides and potentially demonstrate an antioxidation ability by digestive enzymes in vivo.