Abstract: With the rapid social and economic development in China, the life style and disease spectra of people are constantly changing, and unhealthy life styles such as smoking, excessive drinking, physical inactivity and unreasonable diet and related chronic diseases are prevalent, leading to growing interest in and demand for dietary supplements. The unique nutritional and physiological functions of functional polypeptides and their important roles in the regulation of biological metabolism have been gradually discovered. More notably, plant-derived polypeptides have attracted significant attention from researchers around the world because of their natural availability and having no toxic or side effects. In view of the recent advances in functional peptides in the fields of food and medicine, this article reviews the preparation methods for plant-derived functional peptides, their physiological functions and prospects for application in functional foods, which will lay a theoretical foundation for the development and application of plant-derived functional polypeptides.

Key words: functional peptide; plant; protein; dietary supplement