About Parry Astaxanthin

Astaxanthin is a red colored carotenoid pigment that naturally occurs in most marine crustaceans and some species of fish. It is responsible for the reddish tinge that usually accompanies these animals, a prominent example being the pink colored flesh of the salmon fish.

Parry Natural Astaxanthin is derived from the microalga Haematococcus pluvialis.

• Astaxanthin has an antioxidant action up to 500 times that of vitamin E, which has led some experts to term it as “Super Vitamin E” .
• Astaxanthin is the most stable antioxidant and never turns into a pro-oxidant.
• Astaxanthin's low molecular weight and unique structure combine in allowing it to cross the “Blood Brain Barrier”, and the “Blood Retina Barrier”, making it available to the eye, brain and central nervous system. This helps alleviate oxidative stress that has been shown to contribute to ocular and neurodegenerative diseases such as Glaucoma and Alzheimer's.
• Astaxanthin exhibits three types of isomerism. They are the 3S,3'S, 3R,3'S, and 3R,3'R stereoisomer's. Of the three, the 3S, 3'S isomers are the most stable and is believed to be an adaptive feature to be able to store Astaxanthin in tissues without excessive oxidation.
• The 3S, 3'S stereoisomer is the main form found in Haematococcus pluvialis, synthetic Astaxanthin contains the 3R 3'S isomer, which is not convertible to the more common and natural 3S 3'S form. Therefore, Haematococcus pluvialis is the best source of Astaxanthin for human applications
• Astaxanthin has been studied to have very powerful anti-inflammatory properties, hence enhancing its function in eye, heart and joint health.

Superior Features

• Unique technology: Parry Nutraceuticals employs novel technology and processes in cultivation and production, to ensure stability and purity of Parry Natural Astaxanthin. Parry Nutraceuticals has a patent to this effect.
• The algal facility is located at Oonaiyur, an isolated hamlet in southern India away from industrial pollution, ground water contamination and with a conducive environment for growth of the algae.
• Grown in an algal facility certified ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 22000. Parry's Natural Astaxanthin is KOSHER and HALAL certified.
• Parry Nutraceuticals offers a stable Haematococcus pluvialis biomass with a concentration of 15,000 PPM of Astaxanthin.
• Parry Nutraceuticals also offers Astaxanthin oleoresins (solvent extracted) 2.5% and 5%, ideal for softgel formulations. We also offer a microencapsulated powder (1.5% DC grade) to suit various formulation requirements like capsules and tablets.
• Parry Nutraceuticals has an alliance with Valensa International. Valensa International in the US has a patent for Astaxanthin in eye care - Zanthin ® patent no:  5,527,533, which shows that Astaxanthin plays an important role in reducing macular degeneration, and damage caused by UV radiation.  
• Through Valensa, Parry can also offer Co2 extracted Zanthin® oleoresins (7%), beadlets (2.5%) and Zanthin® soft gels with a delivery of 4 mg Astaxanthin.
• Valensa has a unique trade marked supercritical CO2 extraction process called Deep Extract ™. They also use a stabilization technology called O2B™ to add more stability to this sensitive product.
• Hence, Parry Astaxanthin is a preferred product in varied applications such as dietary supplements, functional beverages, cosmetics and high quality animal feed & pet food formulations.

Process

Parry Natural Astaxanthin is extracted from the micro alga Haematococcus pluvialis. Haematococcus is a unicellular, microscopic green alga, which accumulates massive amount of natural Astaxanthin under appropriate growth conditions, to protect itself against environmental stress. Haematococcus pluvialis cells accumulate 15,000 PPM of Astaxanthin before harvesting. Once harvested the whole cells are spray dried and then carefully cracked to ensure bioavailability and packaged in absence of oxygen to ensure stability of this product.

To process oleoresin into powder, the broken cells are extracted in non-petrochemical solvents and distilled to obtain Astaxanthin oleoresin with < 100 ppm of solvent residues in the final product. The oleoresin is then converted into powder form.

Parry Nutraceuticals has a patent for our Astaxanthin production process, Patent no: 201526.

Formation process of Astaxanthin in Haematococcus pluvialis cells:

• In motile cells, Astaxanthin first appears in small spherical inclusions (with no true limiting biomembrane) in the perinuclear cytoplasm, the pigment granules are not within any specific organelle or vesicle.
• In maturing cysts, the pigment deposits increase in number and take on a variety of shapes.  Coalescence of the globular granule result from increasing quantities of Astaxanthin formed as the cell ages. 
• In mature cysts, the cytoplasm is almost uniformly red with no pigment in the nucleus or chloroplast. 
• Astaxanthin disperses towards the periphery of Haematococcus cells under light induction, and moves back towards the center after illumination is discontinued.
• Red cysts are more resistant to photo inhibition than green cysts, strongly indicating a photo protective role for Astaxanthin.
• When the cells have finished encysting, they can contain from 15 - 25 g of Astaxanthin per kilo of biomass.
• The harvested biomass can be offered as Haematococcus pluvialis cracked cell powder or Astaxanthin powder 1% and 1.5%. The Haematococcus pluvialis cracked cells can be further extracted to provide Astaxanthin oleoresins, which is suitable for soft gel formulations.
• Further, Astaxanthin oleoresins can be formulated into Astaxanthin beadlets and Astaxanthin CWD and CWS powders for meeting various application requirements like tablets, functional foods and beverages.

Forms available

Powder

• 1.5% Powder (Haematococcus pluvialis cracked cells)
• 1.5% CWD Powder (Beverage and food application)
• 1.5% DC Powder (Tablets and capsules)

Oleoresin

• 2.5% to 5.0%
• Zanthin 7% to 10% ( CO2 extracted from Valensa International, United States)

Beadlets

• Zanthin 2.5% (From Valensa International, United States)

For specifications, write to us.