Peptide having antioxidant activity and composition containing same

A method for treating oxidative damage to cells comprising orally administering at least one peptide selected from amino acid sequences represented by the following General Formulas 1 and 2 to humans, or animals other than humans:

• γ-Glu-Xaa1 [General Formula 1]
• γ-Glu-Xaa2-Xaa3 [General Formula 2]
• wherein
• Xaa1 is any one amino acid selected from alanine (A), cysteine (C), aspartic acid (D), glutamic acid (E), phenylalanine (F), glycine (G), histidine (H), isoleucine (I), leucine (L), asparagine (N), proline (P), glutamine (Q), arginine (R), threonine (T), valine (V), valine amide (V-NH2), valinol (2-amino-3-methyl-1-butanol) (V-ol), tryptophan (W), tyrosine (Y), ornithine (ORN), methionine sulfoxide (M(O)), cysteine in which hydrogen of a thiol group is substituted with a methyl group (C(S-Me)), cysteine in which hydrogen of a thiol group is substituted with a methyl group and which has a sulfoxide structure (S-Me)(O2), and 2-aminobutyric acid (Abu);
• Xaa2 is any one amino acid selected from cysteine (C), aspartic acid (D), glutamic acid (E), phenylalanine (F), glycine (G), histidine (H), isoleucine (I), leucine (L), asparagine (N), proline (P), glutamine (Q), arginine (R), serine (S), threonine (T), valine (V), valine amide (V-NH2), valinol (2-amino-3-methyl-1-butanol) (V-ol), tryptophan (W), tyrosine (Y), ornithine (ORN), methionine sulfoxide (M(O)), cysteine in which hydrogen of a thiol group is substituted with a methyl group (C(S-Me)), cysteine in which hydrogen of a thiol group is substituted with a methyl group (S-Me)(O2) and 2-amino butyric acid (Abu);
• and
• Xaa3 is any one amino acid selected from alanine (A), cysteine (C), aspartic acid (D), glutamic acid (E), phenylalanine (F), glycine (G), histidine (H), lysine (K), methionine (M), asparagine (N), proline (P), glutamine (Q), arginine (R), valine (V) and ornithine (ORN).