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Parry's Natural Astaxanthin is extracted from the micro algae 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 and powder form, 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.