In a discussion with entrepreneur and host of the eponymous podcast The James Quandahl Show, Karen Hecht, scientific affairs manager at AstaReal, discussed with Quandahl a variety of clinically-evidenced benefits of supplementing with astaxanthin, a carotenoid which naturally occurs in algae. This ingredient has grown substantially in popularity over recent years for its apparent role in supporting a variety of functions, and has been evidenced to be beneficial on a cosmetic level, to be beneficial to overall cognitive health, and to be supportive of a healthy aging process based on its potent antioxidant activity.
 
AstaReal is a leading global cultivator and producer of astaxanthin and its ingredients, and oversees the growth and harvesting of its algae in a manufacturing facility in Washington.
 
The ingredient, found in nature, is responsible for the red color seen in a variety of seafood, Hecht said. “It is found in our diet, and it’s a carotenoid. Some of its cousin carotenoids one may be familiar with include carotene from carrots, and zeaxanthin from leafy greens. We have about 50 carotenoids in our diet and most of them, by far, are from fruits in vegetables, but astaxanthin is only found naturally in red-colored seafood. The best source in our diet would be in wild-caught salmon. Like other carotenoids, it’s a pigment and an antioxidant.”
 
However, in supplement form, this astaxanthin is sourced from a particular species of algae which produces this red pigment at a prolific level.
 
“It’s this alga’s natural response to high-sunlight situations which it tends to encounter a lot in its own niche environment. You’re most likely to find this species in the rain pools of the Swedish Archipelago,” Hecht said. “AstaReal has been studying this for 30 years by observing astaxanthin production in nature and how salmon use it to help their endurance and muscle function during migration runs. Following this, we’ve had 70 human clinical studies to establish the safety and efficacy of it, and used indoor cultivation techniques to make it cleaner and more stable, and more nurturing to the algae to get the best out of it without environmental contaminants and stressors.”
 
Like salmon, astaxanthin is essential to humans, meaning in can’t be produced endogenously, Hecht added. For efficacious results from an natural diet, however, humans would need to eat about one fillet of wild sockeye salmon every day in order to receive enough astaxanthin, amounting up to about 12 mg of astaxanthin per day.
 
Translation to Health Benefits
 
Research has provided evidence that astaxanthin’s antioxidant activity can be found in areas of the eye, heart, brain, muscle, and immune function. “It functions on the cellular level as an antioxidant with anti-inflammatory activities that can act upon the mitochondria of the cell,” Hecht said. Clinical research on it to date is focused primarily on a host of tangible benefits that can be felt, she added.
 
“Testimonials are supported in studies on soccer players, who’ve experienced less muscle damage sustained by practices and games on 4 mg daily. We’re also seeing reductions in markers of systemic inflammation, such as c-reactive protein following extensive training. We also have seen astaxanthin help preserve levels of immunoglobulin-A, which is secreted by the immune system to surround and exclude pathogens we might encounter in a first line of defense. When we’re stressed out acutely, immunoglobulin-A levels drop, and we have studies both in athletes and in everyday people who are exposed to daily stressors, and have found that astaxanthin can support healthy levels of this antibody in saliva. These trials also expand specifically to individuals over 65-plus which is interesting because our antioxidant capacity tends to decrease over age. We have a study published in 2018 and a follow-up in 2020 which found that when astaxanthin was used in combination with a strength and endurance program in individuals over the age of 65, it helped them preserve muscle quality and strength better than exercise alone.”
 
A natural means of cutting down free radicals to a healthy level has become an important target to researchers in the field of brain health nutrition, Hecht said. “While free radicals have a physiological role, we don’t want them to overwhelm the capacity of the body and create a state of oxidative stress.” 
 
New Delivery Routes
 
While astaxanthin is primarily used in today’s market as a standalone softgel ingredient, Hecht believes that because its benefits can be complementary to a wide variety of health applications, formulators will be rewarded for their creativity.
 
“Sometimes it’s nice to combine it with other ingredients that give it added benefits. One key formulation is a combination of carotenoids for eye health, which can filter blue light, function in the muscles of the eye to prevent fatigue from staring at a computer screen all day, and keep up the ability to focus on near objects during eye strain,” Hecht said.
 
In addition to crossing the blood-retinal barrier, astaxanthin has been shown to be able to cross the blood-brain barrier, Hecht said. “Astaxanthin has been linked in studies to improvements in reaction time, mid-term memory, and spatial reasoning. Pre-clinical studies have shown so many interesting things, such as that exercise combined with astaxanthin could promote brain health and memory in animals. Having exercise as part of a multi-system health intervention has long been promising.”
 
In exercise settings, preliminary findings seem to suggests that astaxanthin may induce metabolic changes, causing mitochondria to target fat for energy rather than carbohydrates during endurance-based activity, Hecht said.
 
When it comes to skin health, Hecht added that astaxanthin has been shown to penetrate through to all layers of the skin, and supplementation has been linked to clinically-significant improvements in hydration, skin barrier function, smoothness, and elasticity, two key targets for those in the cosmetics world.
 
The list goes on for immune health benefits as well, with clinical studies showing that astaxanthin supports the proliferation of a beneficial bacteria called Akkermansia in the gut, along with other signs that this antioxidant has a role in supporting adaptive and innate immune health responses.
 
“I think when we talk to people they report subjective results that we’ve already observed in our clinical studies, and I think that this ingredient can improve quality of life. While the science is important to understand, it’s hard sometimes to rely on evidence alone compared to being able to feel the benefits,” Hecht said.
 
The Harvest
 
Hecht discussed AstaReal’s unique process for growing and harvesting microalgae and cultivating the carotenoid from it. “Typically, this algae is grown outdoors in what’s called raceway ponds, or in what’s called closed tube systems. It’s conventional but challenging due to variable growth conditions, competition with other microbes, and the potential to take in contaminants from the air. It really matters where and how you grow the algae. We weren’t getting the level of quality we were aiming for with conventional methods and moved to indoor growth. In terms of quality we were looking at astaxanthin potency, potential levels of heavy metals, persistent air pollutants. All of these things can be tested as a measure of quality, and there’s a USP monograph for the quality standards that astaxanthin should comply with, and so we’re USP-certified.
 
We grow it in a fully-closed, indoor photobioreactor. This lets us control the conditions to make sure the algae is nurtured and the air is filtered. It’s a question of having people to monitor and nurture the algae and keep it more stable.”
 
“We usually hand-pick the starting cells in a plate and propagate from there with quality checks. It’s a step-wise, batch process where everything is totally cleaned out after every harvest.