The Benefits Of Blood From Beef Cattle

It may seem odd to think that blood might be treated as a health food. Blood from beef cattle could certainly fall into this category. It certainly won’t be appealing to vegetarians however there may some components in blood which could be missed out on!

For many years there has been developing interest in bioactive peptides which are obtained in the digestive system when we breakdown or hydrolyse protein (Martínez-Augustin et al., 2014). These peptides have a range of diverse functions which are associated with the following:-

• anti-oxidation,
• anti-inflammation,
• antihypertension
• antimicrobial.

Bovine haemoglobin which is the chief blood borne protein in the red blood cells of blood from beef cattle may be an ideal source for these bioactive peptides. The protein accounts for between 60% to 70% of the total bovine blood proteins. In terms of structure, it is like any other mammal haemoglobin (an alternative spelling) with 2 α-chains and 2 β-chains, which form a tetrahedral globular structure.

When the haemoglobin in the blood from beef cattle is hydrolysed or broken down it can form opioid peptides called hemorphin-4 and hemorphin-5 (Brantl et al., 1986). A few other bioactive peptides can be created too such as bacteria growth stimulator peptide NALA (Zhao et al., 1996), and LVV-hemorphin-5 and VV-hemorphin-5 (Zhao and Piot 1997) which inhibit angiotensin-I-converting enzyme.

Treatment Of Cancer Cell Lines

Not many bioactive peptides are able to disrupt cancer cells, however one generated from cow’s blood might just do the job.

Pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease with a very poor prognosis. It is defined as a malignant carcinoma, a cancer of the digestive system. Most patients are diagnosed with the metastatic disease, which is also the leading cause of pancreatic cancer death.

One recent study examined the anti-metastatic effect of a tetrapeptide called Asn-Phe-Gly-Lys (NFGK) (Wang et al., 2017). This is a tetrapeptide, a peptide containing four amino acids which was obtained from an acidic enzyme treated hydrolysate of beef blood. The enzyme used was pepsin which is secreted by all of us in the stomach and works at very acidic pHs to breakdown proteins. The researchers looked at its effects on particular cells, a human pancreatic cancer cell line called MIAPaCa-2.

The study found that NFGK could inhibit the migration of the cells and its invasion of potentially other tissues. This exciting news suggests that NFGK which is produced when we eat beef blood as in a raw steak could seriously disrupt certain cancer cell lines.

In biochemical terms, NFGK can kill these particular cancer cells to a certain extent. Apparently, the tetrapeptide disrupts the performance of particular cell membrane proteins such as the N-terminus ATP-binding pocket of the secreted heat shock protein 90α (Hsp90α) and another protein, metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). The interaction was mostly dose dependent.

The exciting news is that NFGK might help those patients with this type of cancer to reduce or possibly prevent movement of the cancer to other parts of the body.

Clearly much more research is required and it seems odd to contradict research that has often pointed to the benefits of a more vegetarian diet, but there is clearly some interesting benefits to be had from preserving a more omnivorous diet. The peptides are produced naturally. Whether enough of the peptides are generated to be of any benefit before they are hydrolysed further remains to be seen but there is some scope for looking at industrial products of such peptides. It is possible to design a system which might do so using acidic proteases in an immobilised enzyme reactor.

References

Brantl, V., Gramsch, C., Lottspeich, F., Mertz, R., Jaeger, K.H., Herz, A. (1986) Novel opioid peptides derived from hemoglobin: hemorphins. Eur. J. Pharmacol. 125(2) pp. 309–10.

Martínez-Augustin, O., Rivero-Gutiérrez, B., Mascaraque, C., Medina, F.S.D. (2014) Food derived bioactive peptides and intestinal barrier function. Intl. J. Mol. Sci. 15(12) pp. 22857–73

Wang, Y., Zhang, T., Zhang, H., Yang, H., Li, Y. and Jiang, Y. (2017), Bovine Hemoglobin Derived Peptide Asn-Phe-Gly-Lys Inhibits Pancreatic Cancer Cells Metastasis by Targeting Secreted Hsp90α. Journal of Food Science. doi:10.1111/1750-3841.13962

Zhao, Q., Piot, J.M. (1997) Investigation of inhibition angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activity and opioid activity of two hemorphins, LVV-hemorphin-5 and VV-hemorphin-5, isolated from a defined peptic hydrolysate of bovine hemoglobin. Neuropeptides 31(2) pp. 147–53

Zhao, Q.Y., Piot, J.M., Gautier, V., Cottenceau, G. (1996) Isolation and characterization of a bacterial growth-stimulating peptide from a peptic bovine hemoglobin hydrolysate. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 45(6) pp. 778–84.