Natural Bioactive Compounds from Foods Inhibited Pigmentation Especially Potential Application of Fucoxanthin to Chloasma: a Mini-Review

Nowadays, for chloasma, the conventional treatment methods are external drugs, chemical stripping and oral drugs, but for refractory chloasma, the treatment effect is poor and the recurrence rate is high. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the benefits of natural bioactive compounds in inhibiting chloasma through different mechanisms, and to develop new products to solve the problem of pigmentation. This paper first reviewed the pathogenesis of chloasma and the effects of natural bioactive compounds such as phlorotannins, procyanidins, tranexamic acid, curcumin, vitamin C, catechin, resveratrol and fucoxanthin on pigmentation, and discussed their effects on chloasma. These natural bioactive compounds were finally proved to have the effect of inhibiting pigmentation, especially the potential application of fucoxanthin in the treatment of chloasma, which provided a new idea for further research on inhibiting the formation of chloasma in the future.