Story at-a-glance
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Astaxanthin is believed to be the most powerful antioxidant
found in nature. Research has shown it can benefit your
entire body, from preventing sunburn, to boosting athletic
performance; preventing cataracts and the most common cause
of blindness; preventing dementia, and treating the symptoms
of inflammatory conditions such as arthritis
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In one study, male athletes taking 4 mg of astaxanthin a day
improved their strength three times faster than those taking
a placebo; increasing the number of deep knee bends they
were able to perform after six months of training by 62
percent, compared to 22 percent for the placebo group
engaged in identical training
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Nine human clinical studies have shown astaxanthin can
prevent tired eyes by maintaining optimal motor function and
protecting your eyes against damaging UV rays
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While salmon, shrimp, lobster, crab and some other fish are
good food sources of astaxanthin, it would be near
impossible to reach therapeutic doses through your diet.
Furthermore, farm raised varieties should be avoided at all
cost, as they contain synthetic rather than natural
astaxanthin, which is created from petrochemicals and may
have unknown toxicities
Bob Capelli is the Vice President of Cyanotech, the largest
grower of astaxanthin in the world. Capelli has also
co-authored some of the literature on astaxanthin.
Astaxanthin is now thought to be the most powerful
antioxidant found in nature.
It is one of the most amazing supplements I have ever
learned about. The only one that exceeds it in importance to
be taking every day, from my perspective, is vitamin D.
It is one of the most vital supplements I take, and one that
I would not want to be without.
Astaxanthin is a derivative of the microalgaeHaematoccous
pluvialis (it's the part that give salmon and
flamingos that eat the algae their orange or pink coloring).
It is produced when the algae's water supply dries up,
forcing it to protect itself from ultraviolet radiation.
It's the algae's survival mechanism—Astaxanthin serves as a
"force field" to protect the algae from lack of nutrition
and/or intense sunlight.
As an analogy, the way the algae produces astaxanthin is
similar to the way your skin cells produce melanin in
response to sun exposure.
The astaxanthin, just like melanin, protects the algae
against excess ultraviolet radiation. Interestingly, one of
the benefits of astaxanthin is actually its inherent ability
to protect you against sunburn.
Astaxanthin Works as an Internal Sunscreen
Initial animal studies in Japan had discovered that by
ingesting astaxanthin, mice could stay under UV radiation
longer without getting burned or experiencing deleterious
damage to their skin.
Cyanotech tested it on human volunteers, and found that
taking 4 mg per day for just two weeks statistically
increased the amount of time the subjects could stay in the
sun without getting burned.
"Astaxanthin absolutely works as an internal
sunscreen," Capelli
says.
It will not eliminate the risk of sunburn in everyone,
because there are many individual factors involved, but it
can radically reduce your risk of developing severe sunburn
and related skin damage. Getting sunburned not only causes
photoaging, it can also cause skin cancers, so you should
always take care not to get burned. Capelli recommends
taking 4 mg of astaxanthin per day. It takes several weeks
for the dose to build up to achieve UV protection, and to
help improve your skin's overall moisture balance and
elasticity.
Astaxanthin May Boost Athletic Performance
Emerging evidence, and plenty of anecdotal stories, indicate
astaxanthin may be a powerful performance booster for
athletes.
"There are many endurance athletes that are taking
astaxanthin," Capelli
says. "A lot of them are just raving about it. They
love the stuff.
There was a study about… 10 years ago in Sweden of
young men that were training—they [were] doing deep knee
bends; as many as they could do until exhaustion.
Obviously the control group [was] taking a placebo; they
put the experimental group on astaxanthin… a 4 mg dose.
After six months, the men working out taking a placebo
could do approximately 22 percent more deep knee bends.
The ones taking the astaxanthin could do 62
percent more! They were getting stronger three
times faster than
those taking placebo.
Absolutely, for strength and endurance, it works
wonders… Athletes generate a lot of oxidation, a lot of
free radicals floating around their bodies from doing
these intense workouts. Because it's such an incredibly
strong antioxidant, it helps combat those free
radicals."
From my point of view, this is exciting because exercise is
one of the crucial components for health that I recommend,
and astaxanthin appears useful for protecting against
injuries and overuse syndromes that can occur when you're
exercising on a regular basis. According to Capelli, higher
doses, up to 12 mg/day, is typically used by athletes.
As a Powerful Quencher of Inflammation, Astaxanthin is Useful
for Many
As an antioxidant, astaxanthin has powerful
anti-inflammatory benefits, which makes it useful for a
number of diseases associated with inflammation, such as
arthritis. However, it's not a magic cure.
"All of the studies we've done point to the same
final conclusion that astaxanthin is not going to cure
these problems," Capelli
admits. "It's not curative. But it will absolutely
help with having people feel better and definitely
increase mobility and also help to reduce pain.
For example, rheumatoid arthritis is much harder to
treat than osteoarthritis. We've done a study on that.
Believe it or not, about halfway through the study when
the results started kicking in… the people in the
treatment group taking astaxanthin… were asking the
researcher, "What is this?" A lot of them with
rheumatoid arthritis had tried many different things and
had not gotten results. With astaxanthin they were
getting very good results. It just took about a month
or so to kick in.
We've done studies on people with carpal tunnel
syndrome—again, very good results. People with tennis
elbow actually made their grip strength 93 percent
stronger in eight weeks."
Not mistaking astaxanthin for a cure is an important point.
However, it can effectively relieve
symptoms when
taken consistently over several weeks (effects are usually
noticeable after about two to four weeks). And in many cases
it can do so more effectively than far more expensive and
potentially toxic prescription anti-inflammatories and
over-the-counter pain killers.
If you have arthritis or any other inflammatory condition,
you still need to address the foundational causes, which in
many cases can be traced back to your diet, particularly
eating too much sugars and grains, which increase your
insulin levels and inflammatory prostaglandins. You would
also need to assess your fat intake, to make sure you're
getting healthful saturated fats and enough essential
animal-based omega-3s, for example.
Absorption Rate Can Vary from Person to Person
While most people, about 85 percent, experience benefits
from taking astaxanthin, it doesn't work for everyone.
"The reason why, we think, is because many people
have a very poor ability to absorb carotenoids (astaxanthin
is a carotenoid)," Capelli
explains.
"People absorb anywhere from as low as 5 percent of
the carotenoids in their diet or in supplements, up to
over 90 percent. If your body absorbs 90 percent, you're
going to get a great benefit even at 2 to 4 mg a day.
But if you're a 5 percent absorber, you might take 12 mg
a day and still get almost no benefit."
Another factor to keep in mind is that astaxanthin is a fat
soluble supplement. So unless you take it with a small
amount of fat, it's not going to absorb well. Butter,
coconut oil, or eggs would be ideal complements to ensure
optimal absorption.
Other Benefits of Astaxanthin: Eye- and Brain Health
Research has also shown that astaxanthin may be quite
beneficial for eye health in general, and age related
macular degeneration (ARMD) and cataracts specifically. ARMD
is the most common cause of blindness in the United States
and most western countries.
Scientists have studied the most common carotenoids (lutein,
zeaxanthin, canthaxanthin, and astaxanthin) and compared
their respective abilities to protect the retina. But none
perform to the degree that astaxanthin does, in terms of
potency as a free radical scavenger and permeability across
the blood-brain-retina barrier.
"Astaxanthin has been shown, in nine different human
clinical studies, to be able to prevent tired eyes… It
helps maintain the motor function of your eyes at the
highest level, just like in your other muscles… Also, [astaxanthin]
protects your eyes from sun damage just like it protects
your skin... all the research points to astaxanthin
being the champion of the supplements for eye health," Capelli
says.
Other eye problems that may benefit from astaxanthin
include:
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Glaucoma
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Retinal arterial occlusion
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Cystoid macular edema
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Inflammatory eye diseases (i.e., retinitis, iritis,
keratitis, and scleritis)
It also appears to have potent benefits for your brain. In
just the last two years, 10 different studies have
demonstrated beneficial effects on brain health. For
example, studies have shown that astaxanthin may:
"One animal study in Japan showed that it could
potentially actually make rodents smarter," Capelli
says. "That has not really been demonstrated in
humans yet, but that's kind of an interesting thing, not
just for people as they age but for anybody that just
wants to have their brain functioning at maximum
capacity."
What Makes Astaxanthin so Unique?
There are several different ways to measure antioxidant
strength, but no matter which one is used, astaxanthin
consistently comes out way above the others. According to
Capelli:
"[Against] vitamin E, comparing singlet oxygen
quenching, it was 550 times stronger. CoQ10 – 800 times
stronger. Vitamin C, in one of the studies – again,
this was singlet oxygen quenching – it was 6,000 times
stronger. Compared to some other antioxidants like
let's say lutein it might be only 10 times stronger, but
overall, whatever you're comparing it with, it's
consistently well above all the competitors."
Astaxanthin is also unique in that it can protect the entire
cell. The astaxanthin molecule is actually in the same
family as beta carotene and other carotenoids like lutein
and lycopene, yet it's also very different. This difference
is due to the shape of the molecule, and the ends of the
molecule.
"One end of the astaxanthin molecule [protects] the
water soluble part of the cell, and it spans the cell
membrane, and the other end [protects] the fat soluble
part of the cell. So it can protect the entire cell," Capelli
explains.
"Another thing that's really interesting to note is
that many good antioxidants, under certain conditions,
can change and have the opposite effect and become
pro-oxidants. It can actually cause additional
oxidation in your body. It can start doing damage.
Astaxanthin has been shown in a few different studies never
ever to
be able to become pro-oxidant. It's never going to
hurt you. It's only going to help you."
Salmon is a Good Source of Astaxanthin, But Beware of Farm
Raised Variety
"Pretty much anything that is red in color that
comes out of the sea has astaxanthin in it," Capelli
explains. "So
you're looking at shrimp, lobster, crab, of course
salmon has the highest concentrations. In salmon it
tends to concentrate mostly in the muscles and so the
theory is that… that's what gives the salmon this
incredible endurance to swim upstream for weeks to
spawn. It's in trout as well. Several different [fish]
species have it, but again not in big doses.
If you like wild salmon, the species that has the
highest amount is called sockeyei, [which is] common
around Alaska. If you eat about half to three-quarters
of a pound, you're going to get the same amount of
astaxanthin that you get in one 4 mg capsule."
Typically, that's too much for most people to be eating in
one day, so it may be difficult to reach commonly used
therapeutic doses through diet alone. Also keep in mind that
the majority of salmon sold in restaurants and your local
food store is farm raised, not wild-caught. The problem with
farm raised salmon is that the astaxanthin is a highly
inferior synthetic version that may have still unknown
toxicities.
As for supplements, synthetic astaxanthin has not yet been
permitted to be sold for human consumption, so all
astaxanthin supplements on the market contain natural
astaxanthin.
"Synthetic astaxanthin is produced from
petrochemicals," Capelli
explains. "It's made in the laboratory in a very
elaborate process that turns it from oil into
astaxanthin. Frankly, it's a pretty amazing feat that
they have figured out how to do this but…it's not
natural and [the molecule] has a very different shape.
… The very important difference is that the natural
astaxanthin is sterified, which means that on either one
or both ends of the molecule there is a fatty acid
molecule attached. Again, this is not proven. We don't
know why but that's the theory of why it works so much
better, because in animal tests that have been done on
synthetic versus natural astaxanthin, there has been a
remarkable difference in all sorts of things like
immunity, disease resistance, growth rates, strength,
all things like that.
Also, in a laboratory test on antioxidant strength,
the natural astaxanthin from algae was 20 times stronger
in free radical elimination than synthetic astaxanthin
from petrochemicals. It's really like comparing apples
to oranges. They have the same name, astaxanthin, but
again, one is very different from the other. They don't
even look the same under a microscope."
Final Recommendations
If you decide to give astaxanthin a try, I recommend
starting with 2 mg per day, and working your way up to about
4 mg per day, or more if you're an athlete or suffering from
chronic inflammation. If you are on a krill oil supplement,
which naturally contains astaxanthin, take that into
consideration. Different krill products have different
concentrations of astaxanthin, so check your label.
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