|
Astaxanthin Astaxanthin is a red pigment occurring naturally in a wide variety of living organisms. Although the word astaxanthin may not be commonly encountered in everyday speech, the pigment itself is found in many human foods, and you are quite likely to be consuming it in your diet already. Most crustaceans, including shrimp, crawfish, crabs and lobster, are tinted red by accumulated astaxanthin. The coloration of fish is often due to astaxanthin; the pink flesh of a healthy wild salmon is a conspicuous example. In commercial fish and crustacean farms, astaxanthin is commonly added to feeds in order to make up for the lack of a natural dietary source of the pigment (Torrissen et al. 1989). Not only does astaxanthin provide for pigmentation in these farmed animals, it also has been found to be essential for their proper growth and survival (Torrissen and Christiansen 1995). Astaxanthin is one of a group of natural pigments known as carotenoids. In nature, carotenoids are produced principally by plants and their microscopic relatives, the microalgae. Animals cannot synthesize carotenoids de novo, thus ultimately they must obtain these pigments from the plants and algae that support their food chains (Britton et al. 1995). Commercial production of astaxanthin from the microalga Haematococcus pluvialis is a growing business worldwide, primarily due to the rapid growth of this microorganism and its high astaxanthin content. Several studies have compared astaxanthin's antioxidant activity with that of other carotenoids. It should be kept in mind when reviewing these studies that measurement of antioxidant activity is highly dependent on the experimental system used, and one should be cautious in comparing results of separate studies, or of extending the conclusions of a given study beyond its experimental limits. As is the case with other carotenoids, astaxanthin is a potent quencher of singlet oxygen. One comprehensive study found astaxanthin to be twice as effective as beta-carotene (and about 100 times more effective than vitamin E) in quenching singlet oxygen in chemical solution (Di Mascio et al . 1991); lycopene was found to be about a third more effective than astaxanthin. Similar results were found by researchers working with an in vitro system of human blood cells treated with different carotenoids and then exposed to singlet oxygen; again, lycopene was found to be more effective than astaxanthin, which in turn was more effective than beta-carotene (Tinkler et al. 1994). Astaxanthin is a powerful, bioactive anti-oxidant and has demonstrated efficacy in animal or human models of:
There is abundant evidence that certain carotenoids can help protect the retina from oxidative damage (Snodderly 1995). A recent study with rats indicates that astaxanthin is effective at ameliorating retinal injury, and that it is also effective at protecting photoreceptors from degeneration (Tso and Lam 1996). The results of this study suggest that astaxanthin could be useful for prevention and treatment of neuronal damage associated with age-related macular degeneration. Call 1-800-620-9975 to order. |
