Astaxanthin Benefits Promoted by Dr Mercola

Benefits of astaxanthin - We have all heard about the anti-oxidant properties of acai berry and resveratrol (and some of the scams associated with them) and now there is a newer, even higher, anti-oxidant rich supplement that’s being popularized. I'm sure we haven't heard the last of the great antioxidant supplements.

This “new” supplement is known as astaxanthin and while it has been around for some time, it recently got a huge endorsement when Dr Mehmet Oz featured Dr Joseph Mercola on his popular Oprah spin-off show.

If you haven’t heard of Dr Mercola, he is one of the leading practitioners of alternative medicine in the US and publishes one of largest alternative and health information newsletters on the internet today with some 1.5 million weekly subscribers. He is well respected in the natural health and conversely, not so well respected in the main stream medical community probably because he is a serious challenge to the traditional way of using surgery and prescription medicine to treat disease. Dr Mercola instead focuses on nutrition as a means of of staying healthy and preventing disease.

Dr Mercola believes that astaxanthin is the number one supplement that should be taken by people today because of its powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. he claims that it is good for people who have a whole range of health issues such as cancer, arthritis, cardiovascular disease and other medical issues. He also claims that astaxanthin has been proven to help patients who have cataracts. And last, but not least, it is used by some athletes as a performance enhancement, but not to worry because it is completely natural, that is, if you get it from natural sources.

The primary source however, is haematococcus pluvialis which is a Chlorophyta and is the ingredient responsible for giving red flamingos their bright, saturated color.

It needs to be noted though that Dr Mercola doesn’t promote dietary supplements as an alternative for a healthy diet. As we have said all along at ezHealthyDiet.com, if you eat a poor diet, supplements will do you no good. They should be used only when you can get something regularly in your diet that you need.

So what exactly is astaxanthin? It is a phytochemical, comes from the ocean and can be found in algae, krill, plankton and cold water arctic shrimp as well as various other marine sources. It can also be made synthetically and can sell for $2,000 per kilo when made from synthetic sources and up to $7,000 a kilo when derived from natural sources. The supplement is widely available right now, but is sure to get a big boost in sales with this recent endorsement by Dr Mercola.

What we will probably also see is diet and weight loss pill pushers come up with some concoction containing astaxanthin that claims to help you lose weight faster than you’ve ever been able to do before and making you look absolutely radiant in the process. You just wait, just as they were during the acai berry diet craze, I’m sure the diet scammers are busy at work this very minute, beware!