Youthful Aging By Norm Shealy
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Carotenoids are the compounds which give yellow, orange and red colors to fruits and vegetables. Best known is beta carotene, the safe pro vitamin A alternative to vitamin A. Vitamin A is toxic at dosages above 10,000 units daily and is not needed at all if one takes beta carotene. Carotenoids appear to be safe at virtually any dosage. They are wonderful anti-oxidants and each one has specific properties which makes it unique from the others. Lutein and lycopene have been widely promoted in the past decade for their potential immune enhancement and potential cancer prevention. Less known are cryptoxanthin, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin.
Personally I have taken 200,000 units of beta carotene for over 25 years, along with 5 grams of C and 800 units of E, to control allergies which developed after intensive antibiotic therapy for a raging sinus infection. That is my only experience of a sinus infection, which developed during a trip to visit and film ''psychic surgeons'' in the Philippines. Since then I have often recommended the beta carotene, C, E regimen to those with allergies with reports of considerable success.
Recently I have explored the literature on astaxanthin, which appears to have a much broader physiological effect than the other carotenoids. This particular carotenoid comes not from fruits or vegetables but from green algae, red yeast, and crustaceans (remember the red color of lobsters). Health benefits include cardiovascular disease prevention, immune system enhancement, bioactivity against Heliobacter pylori and cataract prevention,
Combined with vitamin C, astaxanthin prevents peptic ulcers in stressed rats, perhaps indicating a metabolic interaction between these two antioxidants. Similarly it is well known that beta carotene, C and E must be given together for optimal benefit. Much of the clinical work with beta carotene or C has been seriously flawed because it was done with a single antioxidant! Chronic H. pylori infections increase the production of free radicals which damage not only the stomach but contribute to coronary artery disease. In patients with functional dyspepsia, astaxanthin reduced gastric inflammation. Dosages of astaxanthin up to 21 mg are known to be safe.
In a double blind, placebo controlled study of 30 infertile man who had female partners with no demonstrable cause of infertility, 16 mg of astaxanthin daily led to significant improvement in sperm quality with 54% of the astaxanthin treated men impregnating their mate compared with only 10 % in the controls.
Astaxanthin strikingly inhibited growth of human prostate cancer cells in vitro, and the combination with saw palmetto extract further inhibited prostate cancer cell growth. Both these compounds inhibit 5 alpha reductase, the enzyme which converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, which appears to be a major contributor to benign prostatic hypertrophy as well as to prostate cancer.
In diabetic mice, astaxanthin prevents diabetic neuropathy, while lowering blood glucose levels! Furthermore, astaxanthin significantly ameliorated the features of metabolic syndrome, while lowering blood sugar, triglycerides, fat cell size and improving insulin resistance. High density cholesterol was increased.
Astaxanthin also lowers cholesterol, which is at least partly responsible for its heart health benefits. And astaxanthin lowers LDL, the most dangerous cholesterol
In summary, for those individuals with problems of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, hypertension, elevated cholesterol, atherosclerosis and prostate cancer or elevated PSA, I think it is prudent to add astaxanthin as a safe and potentially great health enhancer.
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