|
Introduction
|
Figure 1. How
natural astaxanthin contributes to a weight management.
|
Weight management
generally involves two things: i) ingesting less calories and ii) burning
more calories. A sensible dietary choice helps with the former and new
research published suggests by supplementing natural astaxanthin into the
diet may help with the latter in two ways. The first is improvement of lipid
(fat) metabolism and the second is increased muscle endurance and recovery
(Figure 1). The combination of these two effects could result in losing more
body fat, avoiding rebounds and enjoying a more rewarding exercise
experience. In this issue, we explain how natural astaxanthin may affect fat
metabolism. Next month part 2 covers muscle endurance.
Improved Lipid Metabolism
|
Figure 2. Results
of a 60-day high-fat diet study in mice. Astaxanthin reduced bodyweight
increase dose dependently when compared against control (Ikeuchi et al.,
2007).
|
Ikeuchi et al.,1
demonstrated that astaxanthin inhibited bodyweight gain in a diet which
contained ten times the amount of fat (without changing the energy intake)
when compared to the controlled group (Figure 2). The sixty-day study
revealed several significant improvements such as total body weight (15%
less), adipose tissue (34% less), liver triglycerides (58% less), plasma
triglyceride, liver weight and total cholesterol. In addition, it
appears that weight-gain and adipose tissue gains were suppressed in a dose
dependent manner. Based on the respiratory quotient, the inhibition of
weight-gain may be linked to increased thermogenesis and fat utilization.
Other studies concluded that natural astaxanthin in combination with exercise
had the greatest effect than with exercise or supplementation alone2,3,4. Table 1., shows significant reduction of body fat
and body weight. The working theory for body fat reduction is increased
lipid metabolism in muscle and synergy with exercise.
Astaxanthin’s powerful antioxidant property5 also appears to protect muscle mitochondria and its
components against oxidative stress such as enzymes located in the membranes
of mitochondria. Oxidative stress generated as a by-product during
energy generation can impair lipid metabolism in mitochondria. One of
these enzymes is CPT I and it imports lipids into the mitochondria to be used
as fuel for generating energy2. Another mitochondrial enzyme is 3-HAD, which is
involved in the metabolism of fatty acids in the â–oxidation step3. These studies provide further evidence to
support the idea that astaxanthin increased the utilization of fats as the
energy source after respiratory exchange analysis2,3,4. Therefore, it can be said that natural astaxanthin in
combination with exercise promotes lipid metabolism or
“fat-burning”.
|
|
Conclusion
Natural
astaxanthin has been shown to inhibit weight-gain and other markers linked
with a high fat diet. Furthermore, astaxanthin in combination with exercise
is even more effective in reducing weight because of astaxanthin’s high
antioxidant capacity, protective effect during energy production in mitochondria
and fat burning effect.Successful weight management is challenging because of
the modern lifestyle and the dietary choices that surround us. However, a
program that combines sensible food intake levels, exercise routine with
natural astaxanthin makes such goal a realistic one.
|
