Healthy living and lifestyle From fish to fork?


The healthy living market has been abuzz with the benefits of astaxanthin, driving a buoyant subsector of the food supplements market. But actually integrating the chemical into our daily diet is easier said than done. Andrew Tunnicliffe jumps in, getting help from Professor Richard Allsopp and Dr Bradley Willcox, both from the University of Hawaii.


$1.86bn


The estimated market value of astaxanthin in 2022. Straits Research


I


t’s been more than 85 years since Richard Kuhn and colleagues first introduced astaxanthin to the world.


In 1938 – the year Kuhn received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research into carotenoids and vitamins – he discovered the carotenoid, revealing it as the source of red pigment in aquaculture. Today, we know it to be found in numerous organisms and microorganisms, including yeast, microalgae, salmon, krill and even lobster.


That’s not the only thing we’ve learnt since Kuhn’s groundbreaking discovery: back in the 1930s, it’s likely he didn’t fully appreciate the enormous potential of this natural antioxidant. As subsequent research has found, astaxanthin could offer vast benefits from heart health to cognition. With that in mind, at any rate, it’s unsurprising that astaxanthin, belonging


to a group of carotenoids known as xanthophylls, has gone through numerous approvals globally. That started with animal and fish feed, with human supplements, both in its natural and synthetic forms, appearing from the late 1980s. That’s echoed by more recent changes. In September 2023, for instance, EU regulators amended the conditions of use of ‘astaxanthin-rich oleoresin from


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Ingredients Insight / www.ingredients-insight.com


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