What is Astaxanthin?
Astaxanthin is a red pigment occurring naturally in a wide variety of living organisms. Astaxanthin is a naturally occurring carotenoid that is closely related to beta-carotene and Lutein.
Because of its unique structure, astaxanthin provides a wide range of antioxidant benefits. Astaxanthin may play a key role in the protection of cell membranes against free radical attack. Although the word astaxanthin may not be commonly encountered in everyday speech, the pigment itself is found in many human foods, and you are quite likely to be consuming it in your diet already. Shrimp, salmon, crawfish, crabs and lobster, are tinted red by accumulated astaxanthin.
Recent studies have indicated that astaxanthin is more powerful than its carotenoid cousin, beta-carotene, at trapping singlet oxygen free radicals.