Skin’s New Shield: Food-Derived Bioactive Peptides in Combating Photoaging—An Investigation Into Inhibitory Mechanisms and Structure–Activity Relationships

Abstract

In recent years, skin health has become one of the leading causes of nonfatal disease burden due to the significance of the skin in the body and the ubiquitous presence of ultraviolet radiation that negatively affects skin conditions and causes skin photoaging. Bioactive peptides (BAP) have received much attention for their antiphotoaging activity in skin because they are natural, safe, and functional. Previous studies have demonstrated that specific amino acids or sequences, as well as some characteristic amino acids, are key to the antiphotoaging effects of BAP. Nevertheless, their inhibitory mechanisms and the association between their structures and abilities are not comprehensively documented. This paper summarizes the mechanisms of antiphotoaging peptides derived from different food processing by-products from the literature over the past 4 years, focusing on the structure–activity relationship based on the inhibitory mechanisms and amino acid compositions of BAP. In addition, the current challenges in obtaining and researching BAP are discussed, and future approaches are proposed. This review provides a theoretical basis for discovering more possible food-borne antiphotoaging peptides and exploring the correlation between the structures and effects of antiphotoaging peptides.