A food for preventing life style-related diseases of the present invention
contains a mung bean protein degradation product. The mung bean protein
degradation product is obtained by hydrolyzing a mung bean-derived
protein with a protease. In the mung bean protein degradation product,
the dipeptide or tripeptide content in the entire peptides is preferably
10% or more. The food for preventing life style-related diseases of the
present invention is preferable for preventing in particular
hypertension, arteriosclerosis, and obesity, for example. The present
invention also provides an anti-hypertensive agent, an
anti-arteriosclerotic agent, a vascular intimal hypertrophy inhibitor,
and an anti-obesity agent containing the mung bean protein degradation
product. Furthermore, the present invention provides a diet food
containing the mung bean protein degradation product. The mung bean
protein degradation product is obtained from naturally-occurring
materials that have been conventionally used as foods, and thus it has
little side effects and a high safety. Furthermore, this degradation
product can be produced from a by-product obtained in the process of
producing bean-starch vermicelli, and thus it is environmentally friendly
in view of utilizing waste materials, and is expected to contribute to
the recycling-based society.