Astaxanthin, The Multifunctional Antioxidant

Astaxanthin, an unique multitalented antioxidant and strong coloring agent, the leading superstar behind the secret of anti-aging. Astaxanthin is a high value compound with applications in the nutraceutical, cosmetic, food, and animal feed industries.

Astaxanthin potential antioxidant points to several health conditions, UV-light protection, anti-inflammatory, and protecting body tissues from oxidative damage. Astaxanthin plays important role on the protection of cells, because of its ability to protect the cell membrane from free radicals.

The unique of astaxanthin lies on its superb functions. Astaxanthin manages to penetrate different parts of the cells, by protecting all organs and systems throughout the body. This multifunctional protections lead to several health benefits including the secret of anti-aging.

The Health Benefits

Several studies have shown the successful of astaxanthin on reducing the blood pressure. By increasing blood flow, researchers has found that astaxanthin managed to drop the stroke incidence by 50%.

Another studies showed that astaxanthin managed to control diabetes, and preserved the pancreatic function as insulin sensitivity.

Other health benefits include:

Improves skin elasticity.

Eye fatigue reduction.

Improves muscle endurance and helps relieve joint pain.

Reduces gastric inflammation and dyspepsia (indigestion, a medical condition characterized by chronic or recurrent pain in the upper abdomen).

Improves immunity functions.

550 times stronger than Vitamin E.

Based on Nutrex Hawaii BioAstin Natural Astaxanthin's review, a 49 years old Lynn who used the product for six weeks, had found her face skin tightened up, and improved the fading of her face's brown age spots. The review has shown the anti-aging properties of astaxanthin.

The Nature Made Supplements

Most astaxanthin supplements are made from Euphausia pacifica (Pacific krill), Euphausia superba (Antarctic krill), Haematococcus pluvialis (MicroAlgae), Pandalus borealis (Arctic shrimp), and Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous, formerly Phaffia rhodozyma (yeast).

The microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis accumulates the highest levels of astaxanthin in nature. More than 40 g of astaxanthin can be obtained from a kg of dry Haematococcus pluvialis, or ~ 40,000 ppm (parts per million).

Other natural sources of astaxanthin from the lowest levels are:

Salmonidae, family of ray-finned fish, include salmon, trout, charrs (Salvelinus), freshwater whitefishes (Coregoninae), and graylings (Thymallus). Salmonidae have astaxanthin concentration ~ five ppm.

Plankton, organisms which live in the water, and provide source of food to many large aquatic organisms. The organisms include drifting animals, plants, archaea, algae, and large organisms such as jellyfish, have the astaxanthin concentration at ~ 60 ppm.

Krill, small crustaceans of the order Euphausiacea, in which are found in all the world's oceans. Krill have astaxanthin concentration ~ 120 ppm.

Pandalus borealis, or Arctic shrimp, a species of caridean shrimp found in cold parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Pandalus borealis have astaxanthin concentration at ~ 1,200 ppm.

Yeast, a microorganism that has been used in baking and fermentation, have astaxanthin concentration ~ 10,000 ppm.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astaxanthin

Nutrex Hawaii BioAstin Natural Astaxanthin Customer Reviews.

Engineering of a plasmid-free Escherichia coli strain for improved in vivo biosynthesis of astaxanthin.
Lemuth K, et al. 2011

Haematococcus astaxanthin: applications for human health and nutrition.
Guerin M. et al 2003