Astaxanthin Supplement: Why It Is a Better Option

Taking supplements is something that many Americans are familiar with, as over 50 percent of them take dietary supplements. Among these supplements are antioxidant formulas, such as astaxanthin.

For those who aren’t familiar with astaxanthin, it is a carotenoid or a pigment. It provides color to certain plants and creatures. Apart from astaxanthin, there are over 700 other carotenoids found in the environment, including beta-carotene, lycopene, and vitamin A.Astaxanthin induces a reddish or pinkish color in certain types of microalgae and fungi. This nutrient is also responsible for giving salmon, krill, shrimp, and flamingos their red/pink/orange color.

How Humans Can Get a Taste of This Antioxidant
Did you know that flamingos are born white and not pink? They gradually change color, thanks to astaxanthin. These animals obtain the antioxidant from consuming the creatures that consume sources of the nutrient. For instance, salmon consumes krill, whose staple food is the microalgae Haematoccocus pluvialis – the best source of astaxanthin.
Humans can also get a dose of astaxanthin but don’t have to worry about changing colors. It was reported, however, that taking astaxanthin caused a reddish glow on the skin. Apart from this, astaxanthin delivers certain antioxidant benefits.

One way to maximize its benefits is to take it through supplement form. However, it is not wise to buy just any supplement. A high-quality product should:

• Be sourced from the microalgae and not from some other ineffective form
• Have the recommended dosage (which is four to eight milligrams)• Be formulated to assist in nutrient absorption – Astaxanthin is a fat-soluble nutrient, and therefore should be taken with a kind of dietary fat.
• Not contain any synthetic ingredient

Food Sources of Astaxanthin: Should You Settle for This?Food sources of astaxanthin are also available but have some issues attached to them. Sockeye salmon is considered the best dietary source of astaxanthin. Yet even this species of wild salmon has its share of flaws. Like most fish, wild salmon may not be contaminant-free. Meaning, it may still contain traces of industrial waste, like mercury, PCBs, and heavy metals.

Wild salmon is expensive. You also need to consume at least three to four ounces of salmon before you can get the recommended amount of astaxanthin.

Factory-farmed ones are definitely the worse astaxanthin source imaginable. Apart from being fed with chemicals, synthetic hormones, and other artificial ingredients, farmed fish are injected with laboratory-made astaxanthin. This synthetic variant contains petrochemicals and is used to give salmon an orange hue that denotes freshness.

Unless your fish are laboratory-tested to be clear of any pollutants, it is wiser to pick an option other than consuming salmon. It is because of such issues that taking an astaxanthin supplement shows to be a better solution.