What Is Astaxanthin Used for?

Astaxanthin has shown to be a highly beneficial nutritional supplement for humans, as well as being used for fish food. Some research also has shown that it may be used to help prevent health problems like glaucoma and Alzheimer's.

Identification

• Astaxanthin is a carotenoid, a natural pigment found in certain types of plants and bacteria. It is used both as a human nutritional supplement and as an additive in the food of certain livestock.
  As a nutritional supplement, there are no known side effects. It usually comes in pills of 2 to 4 milligrams each. Also, as an antioxidant, it helps prevent a wide variety of diseases and conditions in the human body.

Sources

• Astaxanthin is found naturally in salmon, plankton and krill, though it is also found in Haematococcus pluvialis, a type of algae, which has the largest amount of the pigment out of all natural sources, at about 40,000 parts per million. As a benefit, the algae's population doubles every week, allowing for a great deal of astaxanthin to be harvested.
  Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous, yeast, is similar to the algae in growth and another source of astaxanthin. When taken from this source, it needs to be refrigerated after being harvested. The quality of the astaxanthin differs; it does not have the same high nutritional value.

Uses

• In humans, Astaxanthin is used as an antioxidant supplement, and as such, is 10 times more potent than other carotenoids. It's also thought to be good for the cardiovascular and immune systems. Some research also suggests it can alleviate oxidative stress to the eyes and brain. By doing this, it may help prevent things like Alzheimer's and glaucoma.
  In fish, astaxanthin is used in the feed as a food dye. It is considered safe in salmon to 80 mg per kilogram feed and helps give the meat the pink or reddish color.
  It has been found to be essential for normal growth in fish and crustaceans as a vitamin-like substance. Since they cannot create it themselves, the animals get it from feeding on zooplankton, which are thought to feed on the algae that produce astaxanthin.
  It also prevents the oxidation of fats during storage of salmon, helping to prevent them from becoming rancid while frozen.

Harvesters of Astaxanthin

• There are many different companies that harvest astaxanthin around the world, from the United States to Israel, India and China. Most companies use either the yeast or algae as their sources for astaxanthin. Some companies include Fuji Health Science Inc., AlgaTech, BioPrawns and Cyanotech.

Disease

• Oxidation is when an atom, molecule or ion robs another of one or more electrons. It's produced naturally by human bodies simply by having an aerobic metabolism. However, oxidants affect the body similar to how jeans are affected to being run through the wash too many times--things start to fade.
  As such, it's been linked with diseases such as cancer, various aging disorders, alcohol damage, and conditions affecting the heart (Keshan disease, stroke), kidney (renal graft rejection, aminoglycoside nephrotoxicity) and joints (rheumatoid arthritis), to name some.
  As a carotenoid, oxidation is prevented by the fact that astaxanthin has several conjugated double bonds, rather than single, bonds between two adjacent carbon atoms. As such, if it loses an electron to oxidation and becomes a carotenoid cation (positively charged ion), its new charge of "+1" is distributed across its chain of atoms, which is a much more stable result than if it were a single bond.