“Since natural astaxanthin was recognized as GRAS by the FDA, we are seeing a growing demand from food and beverages manufacturers seeking water-soluble formulations of our AstaPure brand,” said Efrat Kat, director of marketing and sales at Algatechnologies.
“We’ve been supplying our AstaPure line to beverage manufacturers in the Japanese market for several years.”
“We believe this new product perfectly suits the food and beverage industry since the quality of our product was approved by leading companies in Japan, companies known for their rigorous examination and strict quality-control processes.”
Antioxidant science
Research has linked astaxanthin with skin and eye health, immune function, healthy tendons, anti-aging, energy and heart benefits.
However none of these benefits have been approved by the uber-strict European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) which has been unimpressed by the majority of antioxidant science it has viewed thus far.
In two separate opinions in 2009 and 2011 under article 13 of the European Union nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR), EFSA’s Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) found causality had not been demonstrated between astaxanthin and protection of the skin from UV-induced damage; defense against Helicobacter pylori; normal spermatogenesis and normal muscle function.
For the skin claim, an open label, uncontrolled human intervention study which investigated the effects of astaxanthin consumption (4mg/day) for two weeks in 21 healthy male and female subjects, was deemed irrelevant due to the lack of a control group.
The NDA also rejected joint, antioxidant, eye and cholesterol benefits. Some of its views on astaxanthin can be found here.
But EFSA’s view of the science is not denting the market with Algatechnologies and rivals Fuji-owned BioReal in Sweden and Cyanotech in Hawaii all expanding production in 2011, by between 33-100%.