Health Benefits of Astaxanthin, the Super Antioxidant

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Petrea_Dishman/60867]  Petrea Dishman

I began taking astaxanthin over 10 years ago. I played a lot of tennis and I had developed a case of tennis elbow. I started taking the astaxanthin and the symptoms disappeared within about a week.

I continued to use astaxanthin because I also like to spend time in the sun and astaxanthin helps to protect your skin from UV damage and photo aging and you can stay in the sun longer with a reduced risk of sun burn - even fair skinned people can stay in the sun longer with less risk of getting a sun burn.

Anti-Aging - Skin Health:

Astaxanthin helps to reduce fine wrinkles and improves the elasticity of your skin and helps to increase the moisture in your skin. Astaxanthin also helps to reduce age spots. So you can see that astaxanthin is a super supplement for its anti-aging health benefits.

What is Astaxanthin?

Astaxanthin is a marine algae. It is what salmon and pink flamingos feed on that gives them their color. It is in the carotenoid family. It is a very powerful antioxidant that helps to destroy free radicals.

In fact, it is several times more powerful than vitamin c, vitamin e and CoQ10. It is also about 500 times more powerful than the catechins in green tea.

Astaxanthin is absorbed into your cells and tissue throughout your entire body, unlike most other antioxidants that only benefit certain bodily functions or organs.

Brain Health:

Astaxanthin can cross the blood brain barrier, so it helps to protect your brain neurons and reduces the risk of brain diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer's.

Eye Health:

Astaxanthin can cross the blood retinal barrier, so it helps to:

•    reduce UV damage to the eyes,
•   eye fatigue,
•    age related macular degeneration,
•     cataracts,
•      high eye pressure that can lead to glaucoma or eventual blindness.

Joint Health:

And as I already touched on, astaxanthin really helps to improve joint health, by reducing inflammation and pain caused by free radicals and protecting your joints.

Astaxanthin strengthens your overall immunity so you are better able to resist disease and illness.  Astaxanthin is fat soluble and best absorbed with healthy fats.

Dosage: Take 4 mgs daily for skin health and up to 12 mgs daily for joint health.

How long before you see results?

It can take anywhere from 2-6 weeks to see results depending on the person. There are some people who have trouble absorbing carotenoids, and so for those people, astaxanthin will be less effective.

With good supplementation like astaxanthin, along with eliminating sugar and processed foods and eating a healthy diet, you can live a healthier, more active lifestyle.

Petrea Dishman at [http://www.inspirehealth365.com]

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