Heart Disease Helped by Pink Salmon

Astaxanthin, the antioxidant carotenoid most commonly linked to eye health, has been found to be a potent antioxidant, with tests suggesting that it may have a free radical fighting capacity worth 500 times that of vitamin E. The carotenoid is produced by the Haematacoccus pluvialis algae to protect itself against the effects of UV radiation when water supplies in its habitat dry up. Research has shown it to have a similar structure to lutein and zeaxanthin, but there are indications that it has an even stronger antioxidant activity. The new study assigned 40 young, healthy men (average age 24.4, average BMI 23.8 kg per sq m) to receive daily supplements of astaxanthin (8 mg per day, Astaxin, BioReal) or placebo (microcrystalline cellulose) for three months. At the end of the study, Karppi and co-workers report that blood astaxanthin levels increased in the carotenoid-supplemented group to 0.032 micromoles per litre. Blood levels of 12- and 15-hydroxy fatty acids were also significantly reduced, relative to the placebo group.