Abstract: Camel milk can provide essential nutrients for the human body and has a high nutritional value. In addition, it also has various functional characteristics and health effects, making it a high quality milk source. Camel milk has natural bioactive factors and medicinal components, and its protective protein content is higher than that of other ruminant milks. There are many amino acid sequences of bioactive peptides in the primary structure of camel milk protein that can be released only by hydrolysis to exert their functions. At present, hydrolyzed camel milk protein is known to contain bioactive peptides with potential functions including antioxidant, antihypertensive, antibacterial and hypoglycemic activity, which can effectively improve human health so that they have attracted more and more attention. In this paper, the potential biological characteristics of peptides produced from protease hydrolysis or microbial fermentation of camel milk/camel milk protein are reviewed, as well as the effectiveness in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, which is expected to provide a strong theoretical basis for the development and utilization of bioactive peptides derived from camel milk in the future.

Key words: camel milk; camel milk protein; enzymatic hydrolysis; fermentation; bioactive peptides