Krill oil itself is an amazing supplement! Its omega-3 fatty acids are more easily absorbed, doesn’t leave the same fishy burps or aftertaste, and are cleaner than many fish oil supplements.
However, the most compelling reason to supplement with krill oil has to do with one unique nutrient. Unlike fish oil, krill oil also contains astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant many times more potent than vitamin C, beta-carotene, and vitamin E.
Astaxanthin not only pumps up the omega-3 benefits of krill oil but also gives the body’s aging processes quite a challenge, partly because of its powerful impacts on the body’s most vital systems and organs.
So, let’s dive into this excellent antioxidant, where it comes from, and what the research says about it.
What Is Astaxanthin?
Astaxanthin is a red-colored ketocarotenoid first identified and isolated in 1938 by scientist Richard Kuhn, who discovered it while studying lobsters to find out what gave them their color. Kuhn won the 1938 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on carotenoids and vitamins.
Astaxanthin is found mainly in the algae Haematococcus pluvialis and the yeast Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous, which produce it naturally. The algae are a food source for several sea creatures, and astaxanthin is what turns their shells and flesh pink. Because krill feed almost exclusively on these algae, they contain higher amounts of astaxanthin than other marine animals like shrimp, salmon, trout, and lobster.
How Astaxanthin Works in The Body
As a carotenoid, astaxanthin is fat-soluble and has antioxidant properties that help protect your cells from free radicals and oxidative stress.
Astaxanthin neutralizes reactive oxygen species (ROS) on cell membranes’ inner and outer layers. This keeps ROS from damaging the cell’s basic building blocks, including DNA, protein, and lipids.
Here are some specific ways astaxanthin supports your overall health.
Astaxanthin And Inflammation
Like many antioxidants, astaxanthin may help to reduce inflammation. However, astaxanthin’s specific ability to neutralize ROS helps reduce proteins that can cause inflammatory diseases such as celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, and diabetes.
Not only does astaxanthin fight inflammation, but it also assists our mitochondria, the energy powerhouses located in our cells. Having mitochondria functioning at their best gives our bodies optimal energy and helps them operate at peak performance.
By reducing inflammation, astaxanthin supports improved mitochondrial performance and provides antioxidant support to ward off free radical damage.
Studies show astaxanthin’s anti-inflammatory capabilities can help with exercise recovery by protecting the body from an overproduction of free radicals, inhibiting the production of excess lactic acid in the muscles, reducing fatigue, and improving muscle strength.
Astaxanthin And Your Immune System
Along with fighting inflammation, astaxanthin can boost your immune system by helping to activate white blood cells known as T-cells and natural killer cells. T-cells attack malicious cells based on antigen markers, while natural killer cells work even faster to stop foreign invaders from harming your health.
But as important as it is for an immune system to be reactive — it’s just as important not to be overactive to avoid an autoimmune response. Astaxanthin’s anti-inflammatory properties help modulate a balanced immune response.
Astaxanthin And Brain Health
Carotenoids like astaxanthin help support good brain health by reducing the risks for neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and cognitive impairment.
However, astaxanthin has one advantage: its molecular structure is small enough to allow it to cross the blood-brain barrier. This allows it to protect the brain and possibly even slow the onset rate of cognitive disorders.
Astaxanthin may also literally grow your brain. Astaxanthin can promote the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus, the brain area responsible for learning and memory. Researchers also found that those new cells had even greater learning and memory capacity.
Astaxanthin And Heart Health
Like omega-3s, astaxanthin has excellent heart benefits, including reducing blood pressure.
Astaxanthin can also help reduce LDL, the “bad” cholesterol, and raise HDL, or “good” cholesterol. And since astaxanthin works in tandem with omega-3s in krill oil, you get a more significant cholesterol-lowering benefit than with regular fish oil.
Astaxanthin And Blood Sugar Problems
Astaxanthin could be useful in preventing diabetic nephropathy. According to one study in mice, the antioxidant activity of astaxanthin helped lower blood sugar, reduce stress on the kidneys, and prevent renal cell damage.
Another study showed astaxanthin protected cells against the oxidative damage caused by high blood sugar levels. This damage can cause several complications in diabetics, including kidney disease, nerve damage (neuropathy), and vision problems (retinopathy).
Astaxanthin And Eye Health
While chemically astaxanthin shares some similarities with other carotenoids (like beta-carotene), it’s more closely related to oxygenated xanthophylls like lutein and zeaxanthin, both known for improving eye health. And like these two nutrients, astaxanthin can also help protect your vision.
But astaxanthin has an extra edge, like it does in the brain. Not only can the antioxidant cross the blood-brain barrier, but the same process holds for the retinal barrier. In studies of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), supplementing astaxanthin and other carotenoids significantly improved retinal electrical outputs, which helped slow AMD damage.
Glaucoma involves increased fluid pressure inside the eyeball that causes oxidant damage and blood flow loss, eventually resulting in retinal cell death. Astaxanthin restored these retinal parameters to normal in eyes with experimentally induced glaucoma.
Astaxanthin And Skin Health
Astaxanthin appears to act as a sort of natural internal sunscreen that helps protect your skin from damage by the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays. The nutrient builds up in the top two layers of the skin, helping block UV penetration and reduce sun damage like wrinkles and lack of elasticity.
Astaxanthin And Longevity
Astaxanthin significantly increases the activation of the longevity gene BPIFB4 in our heart tissue. In one study, animals fed large amounts of astaxanthin showed a 90 percent increase in the activation of this gene.
Healthy aging is a hot topic of discussion in terms of lifespan. This is the intersection referred to as the health span. Numerous studies have shown that supplementing astaxanthin appears most beneficial for many of the aging processes and organs most challenged by aging, including the brain, eyes, and skin, not to mention energy levels.
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