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Vince Philip: Dr. Moerck tell us about Valensa’s posion in the Astaxanthin market
Dr. Moerck: Valensa started o as a supercrical CO2 uid extracon (SCFX) facility
specializing in US Plus Saw Palmeo. In 2002 Valensa acquired La Haye
Laboratories along with rights to the Tso eye healthcare patent (USPatent No. 5,527,533) La Haye had been producing Astaxanthin
since 1986. Valensa subsequently perfected the extracon and
stabilizaon of Astaxanthin. Valensa was the rst company to obtain
European Novel Foods approval for their Zanthin® brand Astaxanthin
Vince Philip: What is dierent about Zanthin brand Astaxanthin compared to your
competors?
Dr. Moerck: Valensa’s Astaxanthin is extremely stable due to the O2B® package that
we add to our astaxanthin products. We guarantee 4 years shelf
life based on 7 years of excellent stability data on our product. Our
product is also produced in an allergen free facility that is Organic
Cered. Valensa is the only Astaxanthin producer that actually
extracts Astaxanthin from algae biomass. Valensa is also the only
producer of Astaxanthin in the United States. All other competors
have their extracon done by third party o-shore contractors, some
of which also extract products such as green lipped mussels (shell sh
which contain serious allergens. Valensa does not use Saower oil
as a dilung agent, as one of our competors does, because it
introduces shelf life instability into the formulaon. Valensa only uses
extra virgin olive oil to standardize our Zanthin product.
Vince Philip: Recently Astaxanthin was featured on the Dr. Oz television show and
was discussed by Dr. Mercola, founder of www.mercola.com . On
that show, daily doses of up to 10 mg per day were discussed. Is this
a reasonable dose or is this excessive?
Dr. Moerck: I am very grateful to Dr. Mercola and Dr. Oz for drawing aenon to
Astaxanthin supplementaon for improving human health. You wil
nd several videos on YouTube with Dr. Mercola and Dr. Moerck that
Valensa Internaonal2751 Nutra Lane
Euss, Florida 32726(352) 357-2004
www.valensa.com
AstaxanthinUse, Pharmacokinetics and Dosing
An Interview with Dr. Rudi E. Moerck,President of Valensa International
Dr. Rudi E. Moerck joined
Valensa in 2005 and led
the management team
in implemenng a new
corporate strategy focused
on turning the Company into
a science-based developer
of botanically sourced
products for human health
and well-being.
Rudi holds a BS degree
in Biology from Florida
Southern College and a
Ph.D. from the University of
Florida in Organic Chemistry.
He was a NIH postdoctoral
fellow at Ohio State and
taught chemistry at Ohio
State and Ohio Wesleyan
University.
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Valensa Internaonal2751 Nutra Lane
Euss, Florida 32726(352) 357-2004
www.valensa.com
discusses the health benets of Krill oil and Astaxanthin (smal
amounts of Astaxanthin are naturally contained in Krill)
Based on published pharmacokinec data conducted in humans, a 10 mg
dose of Astaxanthin is unnecessary and somewhat excessive. We do
not recommend a steady intake of 10 or more mg Astaxanthin per day
under any circumstances because this is really excessive, expensive
and wasteful. Because Astaxanthin is a fat soluble carotenoid and a
10 mg per day dose is 2.5 mes the recommended dose, cosmec
pigmentaon of the fay epithelial skin layer would be
expected with prolonged high dose consumpon much like
that observed in beta-carotenosis. Valensa recommends a maximum
dose of just 4 mg per day - for people that are under heavy oxidave
stress such as athletes, or those that are exposed to excessive sunlight
or have occupaons where they are exposed to high levels of
ionizing radiaon (pilots), free radicals or singlet oxygen. A
single dose of 4 mg Astaxanthin per day is an excellent intake of this
potent fat soluble anoxidant. If you eat an 8 oz. poron of wild caught
salmon you consume about 3 mg of Astaxanthin that day. Aer
ingeson, plasma-bound Astaxanthin can sll be quaned 100 hours
later. Since most people consume 2-4 mg Astaxanthin per day
this dose will maintain a physiologically eecve level of Astaxanthin
in the body, especially in membranes of joints, eye, brain and muscle
Astaxanthin is a fat or lipid soluble an-oxidant with a published half-
life (T ½) of 16 hours. That means that ½ of the ingested and absorbed
Astaxanthin is sll present in plasma aer 16 hours in humans! It is
really quite simple. If the T ½ is 16 hours and you take your Astaxanthin
every 24 hours, you will always have good ssue and
plasma levels of this king of carotenoids. In this regard,Astaxanthin is really quite aordable and cost eecve. There would be
bioaccumulaon in fay ssue in the body of humans, just
like in salmon, at elevated doses. The protecve eect against oxidaon
displayed by all carotenoids, especially Astaxanthin, provides an
eecve shield against lipid oxidaon of fay acids in connecve
ssue and the skin.
Vince Philip: Are larger doses of Astaxanthin safe?
Dr. Moerck: One of the issues in the
Nutraceucals industry is
that we must get away from
the “more is beer”
syndrome… more is, in many
cases, not beer and in the
nal analysis high dose
recommendaons do not
improve health and are
wasteful and unnecessarily more
Haematococcus pluvialis
cells aer stress
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expensive to consumers. Our experience with Astaxanthin is that the
magic dose is 2 to 4 mg per day and not more, since most
people previously had only minor exposure to Astaxanthin
in their diets (salmon, shrimp). The excellent published bioavailability
and pharmacokinecs of Astaxanthin (European Journal of
Pharmaceucal Sciences 19 (2003) 299-304) shows that it is very
safe with a LD50
of 600 mg/kg (rats, Valensa does not do animal tesng
and the conservave No Adverse Eect Level (NOAEL) was calculated
to be 465 mg/kg (an average adult human weighs 60 kg), therefore
the LD50
and the NOAEL taken together indicate that Astaxanthin is
remarkably safe, however, just because high doses are safe, does not
in any way make it a good idea to take more than 4 mg per day for
humans.
Why would somebody use Astaxanthin with 5 to 30 mes the
an-oxidant and free radical scavenging ability compared to Lutein want
to take a dose that is equal to the recommended dose levels of lutein (5-
10 mg/day)?
Vince Philip: Are there any side eects of excessive doses ofAstaxanthin besides being a waste of money?
Dr. Moerck: All carotenoids are fat soluble and accumulate in fay
ssue membranes including the skin. Excessive consumpon of Lutein
beta-carotene and Astaxanthin, while safe, will actually lead to skin
discoloraon including yellow to yellow-orange to orange pigmentaon
of the skin (fair skinned people). I have seen this with excessive
Lutein ingeson of about 80 mg/day and the person actually turned
yellow. Inially I wrongly thought they had a liver disease, but determined the root cause as being excessive Lutein consumpon
There are many documented medical cases of Beta-Carotenosis from
excessive intake of beta-carotene, another fat soluble carotenoid.
There is anecdotal evidence that visible skin pigmentaon can take
place when more than 20 mg Astaxanthin is taken per day. This is why
Valensa strongly discourages single doses of 10 mg Astaxanthin or
more. It is counter indicated because many people will take two doses
per day thinking that “more is beer”.
Carotenoid skin pigmentaon is probably not dangerous, but it isunsightly, fully avoidable and o pung, in my opinion. It should be
noted that a single dose of 10 to 20 mg of Astaxanthin will not turn
you orange, but you will turn yellow or orange over a span of a few
weeks if these unreasonable doses are connuously ingested.
Vince Philip: Why take Astaxanthin?
Dr. Moerck: Astaxanthin crosses the blood brain and blood eye barrier. It is a
An overview of Astaxanthin,
the King of Carotenoids.
View
Valensa’s
Astaxanthin
Videos
A tour of Valensa’s facility
with Dr. Rudi Moerck
Dr. Rudi Moerck’sinformave interview with
Dr. Michael Lange
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Valensa Internaonal2751 Nutra Lane
Euss, Florida 32726(352) 357-2004
www.valensa.com
potent anoxidant and protects lipids contained in membranes
and in blood plasma against oxidave damage. About 30% of the
brain’s and the eye’s dry mass consists of DHA, and it is unequivoca
that Astaxanthin protects this membrane component for damage
caused by oxidaon. It has also been shown that Astaxanthin prevents
damage to DNA at a dose of just 2 mg per day in man. Protecng
membranes from oxidave damage is good for cardiovascular health
because atherosclerosis is caused by lipid peroxidaon which leads to
inial vascular scar formaon.
Because of its’ outstanding anoxidant properes, we recommend
Astaxanthin for eye, joint, brain and cardiovascular health.
Vince Philip: How should we take our 2 to 4 mg of Astaxanthin per day?
Dr. Moerck: It is always best to take Astaxanthin with fay food, or in combinaon
with a supplement that is also fay such as sh oil or kril
oil. The product is commonly available in 4 mg sogels. Fayfoods include so boiled egg yolks, meat, buer, whole milk, nuts and
chocolate. The fat helps you absorb Astaxanthin fully. For vegetarians
or vegans, take Astaxanthin Omega-3 rich seed oils such as Chia or ax
seed, Chia or ax seed oil (refrigerated), Nutella, chocolate or nuts
such as almonds or walnuts.
Since krill oil produced today has very lile Astaxanthin in it (except for
Astamega-3 from PatentHEALTH), I always recommend taking a 2 to
4 mg dose of Astaxanthin with krill oil. The phospholipids found in
Krill oil help your body absorb Astaxanthin.
Vince Philip: Thank you very much, Dr. Moerck
One 4 mg dose of
Valensa’s Zanthin® Natura
Astaxanthin Complex per day
is more than sucient
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