
The Role of Astaxanthin in Anti-Aging and Longevity
Centenarians are often proud to share details about their lifestyles that helped them reach the milestone of turning 100 years old. Listening to their tips often reveals that a healthy diet is something that most of them have in common. People who eat a mostly plant-based diet that includes appropriate servings of lean meats, such as salmon, tend to live longer. Although there are many other factors that go into boosting longevity, it is well-understood that one of the best ways to reduce the effects of oxidative stress on your body is to take in more antioxidants.
Astaxanthin is a powerful antioxidant that most people aren’t able to get enough of in their regular diet. It is several thousand times stronger than Vitamin C and beats out many other antioxidants regarding potency. When you’re wondering whether it is worth including this anti-aging supplement in your diet, it helps to know more about the role that it plays in reducing the damage that occurs within and outside of your body as you age.
What Role Does Oxidative Stress Play In Aging?
Human aging is impacted by various biological, behavioral, environmental, and physiological factors. While genetics can play a role in helping to lower your risk of developing certain health conditions, oxidation may be a more significant factor regarding how quickly you age. Oxidative stress occurs at the cellular level, and a large portion of the damage begins with the release of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) during the occurrence of metabolic functions within your body.
How Do Antioxidants Increase Your Longevity?
Excessive sun exposure, consumption or inhalation of toxic chemicals, and a sedentary lifestyle also increase oxidative stress within your body. Antioxidants help lower ROS levels, which reduces their effects on your health. Having high levels of ROS in your body can lead to long-term dysfunction in the mitochondria that exist within your cells. When this happens, your eye, heart, skin, brain, and overall health become threatened. Making sure to include a strong natural antioxidant in your daily health regimen gives your body what it needs to clear out free radicals that cause more oxidative stress.
What Is Astaxanthin and Where Does It Come From?
Astaxanthin belongs to a class of pigments that is called carotenoids. You’re most likely familiar with carotenoids as being the pigments that give carrots, tomatoes, and bell peppers their gorgeous orange, yellow and red hues. In nature, astaxanthin occurs in trace amounts in various animals and plants. In fact, you can thank this natural antioxidant for giving lobsters and other shellfish their beautiful red and pink coloring. Since the amounts you’ll find in natural food sources are too small to make an impact on your body, most people need to take it as a supplement to achieve their desired effects for slowing down the aging process.
How Does Astaxanthin Support Healthy Aging?
The antioxidant is bioavailable in most of your body’s organs, and it can cross the retinal-blood barriers and have the same effect within your brain. When you take a supplement containing this antioxidant, it goes right to work by entering your bloodstream and traveling throughout your body’s cells.
Astaxanthin is known to go scavenging through your body’s cells and bloodstream for free radicals and ROS compounds. Then, it will neutralize before they lead to long-term oxidative stress. By performing this vital role, the natural antioxidant is able to provide you with these benefits for increasing longevity.
- Generate positive impacts at the cellular level
- Offset age-related declines in muscle strength and endurance
- Decrease post-workout lactic acid production
- Provide protective effects against neurological oxidative stress
- Keep the cardiovascular system in balance
- Guard against photoaging
Maintain Mitochondrial Functioning
The mitochondria in your cells are known for producing the energy your body needs to stave off the effects of free radicals that make their way into your system. During the process of producing energy, mitochondria release byproducts that need to be neutralized by antioxidants. Choosing to supplement your diet with a strong natural antioxidant helps to promote healthy mitochondrial functioning that prevents the build-up of inflammation in your body that leads to chronic disease.
Achieve Optimal Muscle Efficiency
The loss of energy is one of the first effects of age-related decline that people notice. While you likely shouldn’t expect to have the energy of a teenager again after you turn 40, you don’t have to let fatigue interfere with your ability to enjoy an active lifestyle. Anti-aging supplements containing this antioxidant have been shown to help decrease lactic acid in the muscles after workouts, which helps to prevent soreness.
The effects of the antioxidant on increasing mitochondrial functioning also lead to an increase in energy, which can help older adults stay on track with their workout routines. Being active further helps to reduce your chances of developing cardiovascular disease, which then continues the snowball effect by improving the functioning of every organ in your body.
Support Healthy Neurological Activity
The brain relies heavily on cellular communication, which gets bogged down by oxidative stress. Astaxanthin has had the effect of demonstrating neuro-protective qualities within the brain by helping to increase neurotrophic factor levels and reducing oxidative damage caused by excessive lipids and proteins.
Similar to the way other antioxidants work, this plant-based nutrient also helps reduce inflammatory processes within the brain that cause cognitive changes, including memory loss, that people often associate with aging. Maintaining strong brain functioning is also critical for helping to preserve your motor skills and coordination as you age.
Add a Layer of Protection for Skin Health
Your skin represents the largest layer of protection for your body that helps to prevent pathogens from reaching your bloodstream and organs. By now, most people include skin care strategies in their health care routine, including putting on sunscreen and limiting their exposure to the sun. Yet, you might be leaving a critical element out of your plans if you aren’t using astaxanthin.
The anti-aging supplement also helps reduce oxidative stress generated by the sun’s UV rays. People who use the supplement may report skin that feels more supple and moisturized and has fewer fine lines, which can all be attributed to the effects of this powerful antioxidant on the skin cell’s functioning. Nourishing your skin from within can have noticeable effects when you check on your appearance in the mirror.
Include Better Eyesight In Your Vision for Healthy Aging
Carrots aren’t the only place to find antioxidants that are good for your eyes, and supplementing with a potent antioxidant can address age-related eye disorders by increasing blood flow to the retina, which helps to form the images you see. The same anti-inflammatory properties that help ease muscle fatigue also help to reduce changes in your eyes that impact your vision. Since excessive exposure to the sun’s UV rays can also increase your risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, using anti-aging supplements is another effective way to preserve your ability to see your loved one’s beautiful faces as you grow older.
Farlong Nutraceutical has long taken an interest in the powerful benefits that antioxidants have on aging. Our astaxanthin supplement is sourced solely from fresh-water Haematococcus Pluvialis, which is carefully cultivated to maintain its purity. While we still can’t quite call it the fountain of youth, this potent antioxidant comes very close to being one with its noticeable anti-aging effects that could help increase longevity when you combine our supplements with other healthy lifestyle choices.