Cited by 345Skin Protection and AgingPhytochemicals and Antioxidant Activitiesmelanin and skin pigmentation

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 237 of the 238 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 358 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Bioactive Compounds for Skin Health: A Review

Open access

Abstract

Human skin is continually changing. The condition of the skin largely depends on the individual’s overall state of health. A balanced diet plays an important role in the proper functioning of the human body, including the skin. The present study draws attention to bioactive substances, i.e., vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, polyphenols, and carotenoids, with a particular focus on their effects on the condition of the skin. The aim of the study was to review the literature on the effects of bioactive substances on skin parameters such as elasticity, firmness, wrinkles, senile dryness, hydration and color, and to define their role in the process of skin ageing.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This narrative review summarizes evidence on dietary and topical bioactive compounds—vitamins A, C, E; minerals selenium, zinc, copper, silicon; omega-3/6 fatty acids; polyphenols; and carotenoids—for skin health and ageing. It concludes that these substances may protect against oxidative and UV damage and improve hydration, elasticity, wrinkles, pigmentation, and barrier function, though evidence is mixed and drawn from heterogeneous in vitro, animal, and human studies.

Key findings

  • The review covers vitamins A, C, E; selenium, zinc, copper, silicon; omega-3/6 fatty acids; polyphenols; and carotenoids, and reports effects on elasticity, firmness, wrinkles, senile dryness, hydration, color, and skin ageing. It concludes that oral antioxidants can supplement chemical and physical UV filters and that healthy dietary habits may improve skin appearance, delay ageing, and reduce skin cancer risk.
  • Vitamin C concentration in skin is higher than in other human tissues: 6–64 mg/100 g wet weight in the epidermis and 3–13 mg/100 g in the dermis; higher vitamin C intake was associated with a reduced likelihood of wrinkled appearance and senile dryness. Topically applied retinoids reduce skin discoloration and pigmentation by about 60%; a retinol formulation improved tensile properties and contours after 12 weeks; in mice, retinol esters accounted for 90% of epidermal vitamin A and retinol 10%.
  • Selenium at 30 nM protected young keratinocytes (from 20–30-year-old donors) against UVA, while 240 nM was required for old keratinocytes (from 60–70-year-old donors); high serum selenium was associated with an approximately 60% decrease in basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma incidence, but other studies found no significant effect. A 0.1% copper–zinc malonate cream applied topically for 6 weeks significantly reduced wrinkles, and a 10% zinc sulphate solution applied topically twice daily for 2 months significantly reduced MASI scores.
  • In a 40-woman green tea polyphenol trial, 10% green tea cream plus 300 mg twice-daily oral supplementation produced significant histological improvement in elastic tissue but no significant clinical changes; in mice, green tea polyphenols inhibited UVB-induced MMP-2 (67%), MMP-3 (63%), MMP-7 (62%), and MMP-9 (60%). Astaxanthin 2 mg/day plus collagen hydrolysate 3 g/day improved barrier integrity, reduced TEWL, and increased procollagen type I mRNA; lutein 10 mg plus zeaxanthin 2 mg daily for 12 weeks improved skin appearance and lightened skin tone.

Methods

  • Design: narrative literature review aimed at presenting the effects of bioactive substances on skin parameters such as wrinkled appearance, elasticity, firmness, senile dryness, hydration, and color, and their role in skin ageing.
  • Data: literature on selected vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, polyphenols, and carotenoids; the paper does not report a systematic search strategy, databases, inclusion/exclusion criteria, or date range.
  • Analysis: narrative synthesis of cited in vitro, animal, and human studies; no meta-analysis or formal quality assessment is described.

Limitations

  • Stated limitations: Not stated in the paper.
  • Evident from the text: the review is narrative and lacks a systematic search, inclusion criteria, and quality appraisal, so selection and synthesis may be non-exhaustive or biased.
  • Evident from the text: evidence is heterogeneous and sometimes contradictory—e.g., vitamin E results range from improvement to no effect, selenium and skin cancer findings are controversial, the green tea clinical trial showed no significant clinical changes, and β-carotene did not significantly reduce new skin cancers; many cited studies are small or use specific populations, limiting generalizability.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3390/nu13010203

Cites

237 of 237 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

0 of 358 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

Show all 118 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 19
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 82
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 2
96 of 96

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

  • Juturu study is assigned the Yoon reference

    Minor

    The text cites reference [233] for a study by Juturu et al., but reference [233] is a study by Yoon et al. The Juturu study appears as reference [234].

  • Yoon study is assigned the Juturu reference

    Minor

    The text cites reference [234] for a study by Yoon et al., but reference [234] is a study by Juturu et al. The Yoon study appears as reference [233].

  • The review says unsaturated fatty acids are both synthesized and not synthesized in the body

    Minor

    The review states that unsaturated fatty acids are not synthesized in the human body, but elsewhere says that the unsaturated fatty acid GLA is formed from LA by an enzymatic reaction.

3 of 3

Citations

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 238 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 8

  1. Fisher, 1999, Molecular mechanisms of photoaging in human skin in vivo and their prevention by all-trans retinoic acid, Photochem. Photobiol., 69, 154
  2. Janda, 2015, Vitamin C – structure, properties, occurrence and functions, Pom. J. Life Sci., 61, 419
  3. Zervoudis, 2010, Complementary treatment with oralpidotimod plus vitamin C after laser vaporization for female genital warts: Aprospective study, J. Med. Life, 3, 286
  4. Dahiaya, 2006, Cosmeceuticals: A review of their use for aging and photoaged skin, Cosmet. Dermatol., 19, 479
  5. Michalak, 2018, Plant oils in cosmetology and dermatology, Pol. J. Cosmetol., 21, 2
  6. Michalak, 2017, Sources of vegetable dyes and their use in cosmetology, Pol. J. Cosmetol., 20, 196
  7. Eldahshan, 2013, Carotenoids, J. Pharmacogn. Phytochem., 2, 225
  8. Yamashita, 2002, Cosmetic benefit of dietary supplements including astaxanthin and tocotrienol on human skin, Food Style, 216, 112

Cited by

Sorted by citations

See all 345

Metadata

Authors
Michalak, M., Pierzak, M., Kręcisz, B., & Suliga, E.
Affiliations
Jan Kochanowski University (PL)
Corresponding author
Michalak, Monika
Venue
Nutrients
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2021-01-12
Volume
13
Issue
1
Pages
203
ISSN
2072-6643 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3118502052
Cited by
345
References
238
Citations by year
2026: 42 · 2025: 75 · 2024: 106 · 2023: 71 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 20
FWCI
10.08
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nutrients (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Regional Initiative of Excellence in 2019–2022 (024/RID/2018/19)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Dermatology › Skin Protection and Aging
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Biochemistry (medical) › Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activities
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › melanin and skin pigmentation
Keywords
bioactive compounds, skin health, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, polyphenols, carotenoids, skin aging, skin elasticity, skin firmness, wrinkles, skin hydration, skin color
MeSH terms
Antioxidants, Carotenoids, Humans, Minerals, Skin, Vitamins, Skin Aging

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-10, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).

A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-10 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

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