Hawaiian Natural Astaxanthin by Green Nutritionals

Hawaiian Natural Astaxanthin is the World's best selling Astaxanthin for human use as a potent antioxidant to help reduce cellular damage from free radicals and many other natural health benefits.

Hawaiian Natural Astaxanthin is derived from the Haematococcus pluvialis microalgaegrown in environmentally controlled ponds by the renowned Cyanotech Corporation in Hawaii, without the use of pesticides, herbicides or GMO ingredients

What is Astaxanthin?

Have you ever seen a bird bath in summer that has dried up? Sometimes you’ll see a reddish color where the standing water has evaporated. The red you’re seeing is Natural Astaxanthin. What has happened is that some green algae (perhaps the one that commercial growers of Natural Astaxanthin use which is called Haematococcus pluvialis) have suffered stress. The stress is due to a combination of things: Lack of food, an absence of water, intense sunlight and heat, or even bitter cold. As a result of this stress, the algae’s cells have hyper-accumulated the red pigment Astaxanthin. They do this as a survival mechanism—the Astaxanthin serves as a “force field” to protect the algae from lack of nutrition and/or intense sunlight. It’s an absolutely amazing fact, but due to the protective properties of Astaxanthin, these algae can stay dormant for more than forty years without food or water, suffering in the summer sun or in the winter cold; yet when conditions are appropriate and there is food and water and no extreme weather, the algae will go back into their green, motile stage.

Astaxanthin can be found in plants and animals throughout the world. It is most prevalent in algae and phytoplankton, but it also can be found in a limited number of fungi and bacteria. Because organisms like many Astaxanthin containing algae and plankton are the base of the food chain, Astaxanthin can be found in many animals as well. Any sea animal that has a reddish or pinkish color contains Natural Astaxanthin. For example, you can find Astaxanthin in salmon, trout, lobster, shrimp and crab. These animals eat krill and other organisms that ingest Astaxanthin-containing algae and plankton as a major part of their diets. And since lots of different animals such as birds, bears and even humans eat these sea animals, you can find Astaxanthin in all sorts of places.

As we mentioned before, the animals that have the highest concentration of Astaxanthin are salmon, where it concentrates in their muscles and makes them the endurance heroes of the animal world. Can you imagine what salmon would look like if they didn’t have any Astaxanthin? Not only wouldn’t they be able to swim up rivers and waterfalls for days on end, but they’d also look pale and worn out.

What are Carotenoids?

For those of you who don’t know what carotenoids are, chances are you’ve eaten a few in the last 24 hours. Carotenoids are the pigments that give many of the foods we eat their beautiful colors. That ripe, red tomato you had in your salad last night is red because of a carotenoid called “lycopene.” The corn on the cob you had at the company picnic last summer is yellow because of another carotenoid called “zeaxanthin.” And of course, the carrots you eat (because you heard as a kid that you should eat carrots to help your eyes because “you’ve never seen a rabbit with glasses”) are orange because of “beta carotene.” In fact, “carrots” actually get their name from this famous pigment that makes them orange, “carotene.”

Carotenoids are divided into two distinct groups: Members of the first group are called “Carotenes.” This is probably the more widely known group because of its most famous member, beta carotene. Some of the other well known carotenes are lycopene and alpha carotene. The other group, of which Astaxanthin is a proud member, is called “Xanthophylls” (pronounced ZAN-tho-fi ls). Some other notable xanthophylls are lutein and zeaxanthin.

The difference between these two groups is that Xanthophylls have hydroxyl groups at the end of the molecules. Astaxanthin has more hydroxyl groups than the other Xanthophylls, which allows it to do more in the human body than its closely-related family members like lutein and zeaxanthin.

You can see that they look similar, except for the ends of the molecule that have the hydroxyl “O” and “OH” groups. This small difference adds up to a huge disparity in terms of functional abilities of these carotenoid cousins.

Some of the many things that Natural Astaxanthin can do that beta carotene (and many other carotenoids) cannot.

Natural versus Synthetic Astaxanthin

A fascinating point to consider is how Natural Astaxanthin performed in the free radical scavenging antioxidant test versus synthetic Astaxanthin. Synthetic Astaxanthin is produced by a few huge chemical companies in huge factories from petrochemicals. While it seems very unnatural to take supplements made from the same oil you put into your car’s engine, the more important factor is how these two extremely different substances perform as nutrients: Although it has the same exact chemical formula as Natural Astaxanthin, synthetic Astaxanthin is actually a different molecule—the shape of the molecule is different, plus in its natural state, Astaxanthin is always paired with fatty acids attached to either one or both ends of the Astaxanthin molecule. This results in an “esterified” molecule, and makes Natural Astaxanthin far superior to synthetic Astaxanthin as an antioxidant and in many other ways, which we’ll explore later.

Another critical difference is that the Natural Astaxanthin tested is extracted from Haematococcus pluvialis microalgae. When the microalgae hyperaccumulates Astaxanthin as a survival mechanism due to environmental stress, it also produces small quantities of other supporting carotenoids.