#14

A typical 10kg wild salmon with approximately 40 mg Astaxanthin/kg flesh, would convert 3.64g/day of Astaxanthin into eating over 9 whole salmons/day.

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#15

Big astaxanthin believer and took it for years prior to rapamycin. Since starting rapamycin I get lower extremity muscle twitches after using it. They go away after stopping the astaxanthin. Some interaction between them. Not certain what’s causing it.

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Lower Extremity Twitches with Rapamycin and Curcumin
#16

This study showing PPAR delta as an activator of pancreatic cancer got me wondering if astaxanthin may be problematic. Astaxanthin is a PPAR alpha agonist and I wanted to know if it affected the other PPAR’s as well.

Fortunately it appears that it does not act as a delta agonist, and in fact has no affect.

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#17

What dose of Astaxanthin were you using in this situation?

#18

12mg per day. A fairly high dose so I’m thinking that maybe 4 mg would be okay.

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#19

I get similar random muscle twitching, dramatically worsened by any kind of curcumin supplement (so I avoid curcumin). Took me forever to link it to curcumin, and I still have no idea what the mechanism could be.

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Lower Extremity Twitches with Rapamycin and Curcumin
#20

Well, now that you mention it, curcumin also does it as does green tea extract. I have to avoid all of them for the first 3-4 days after my rapamycin dose or the twitching is a real nuisance, and also I start thinking that I have some neuromuscular disease.
What could it be? Is it some kind of excessive neuromuscular activation? What’s the role of rapamycin.
I think curcumin and green tea inhibit mTOR to a certain degree. Does it excessively inhibit muscle cell proliferation when used in combination and the muscles compensate by some sort of hyperactivation?

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#21

I take one of these daily for several years now, never noticed any effect.

#22

Thanks. That could explain it.

#23

FWIW, I have used turmeric in cooking for a while. But my latest blood panel indicated some sort of liver injury (ASAT and GGT values), so I stopped all supplements two weeks back (but in the meantime restored mag and urolithin A). I googled my supplements in cunjunction with liver injury, and found that turmeric products have recently been implicated in over a dozen instances of clinically apparent acute liver injury (May 2021). This effect might be fostered by black pepper, that increases the bioavailability of curcumin:

Importantly, means of increasing the bioavailability of curcumin were developed using piperine (black pepper) or nanoparticle delivery methods to increase absorption. These high bioavailability forms of turmeric were subsequently linked to several cases of liver injury and mentioned as a possible cause of outbreaks of acute hepatitis with jaundice in Italy. The clinical features of the liver injury attributed to high bioavailable forms of turmeric have recently become better defined. The latency to onset of liver injury has varied from a few weeks to as long as eight months but is typically 1 to 3 months. The onset is insidious with fatigue, nausea and poor appetite followed by dark urine and jaundice.

The only symptom listed that I also had was dark(er) urine. Maybe I just took too much of it on a one day or week. For example, I remember having drank a whole glass of hot turmeric in a restaurant (it’s served as a drink, and I found it quite good, actually). I will wait another two weeks and check my liver values again. But I have to say, since two weeks, I’m doing very good.

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If it stays that way, I’m going to get rid of a bunch of supplements…

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#24

Your math is right but that feels like a completely insane amount of astxanthin.

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#25

Unlikely to OD with astaxanthin, but this amount will definitely make your skin pink color.

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#26

rivasp12, How pronounced are these twitches? Are they in the category of an unexplained knee jerk or head jerk while sitting or are they much less noticeable? What comes to my mind as a non-medical person is that muscle twitches may also be a side effect of increased serotonin levels from anti-depressant medications (I think). So, with my very non-medical training I wonder if there may be some effect on serotonin levels when taking astaxanthin or curcumin supplements. These are just my “shot in the dark” thoughts.

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#27

Not pronounced. Can be at rest or after exercise. Definitely associated with astaxanthin and curcumin.

#28

How to look like lobster without getting too much sun? I wonder if this supplier is using a reputable raw material provider, or just using some cheap Chinese product (who’s quality I would not trust)?

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#29

FWIW…
Those that are not aware astaxanthin is feed to farmed salmon to make there flesh pink and marketable. Otherwise the farmed raised salmons flesh would be gray. And would not be very marketable.

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#30

And its why flamingos are pink. Someone should do a lifespan study on white vs. pink flamingos :-).

My biggest concern on Astaxanthin suppliers would be the source and possible contaminants… if anyone finds any good research on this, please post.

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#31

Farmed Astaxanthin is better they say, as it is easier to control the environment it grows in.
IHerb’s brand California Gold is supposed to be good and tested, cheapest price as well. I use that brand in 14mg capsules.

#33

Goran,

Yes - those are fine, but I’d like to see if there are good, quality sources for the powder in higher bulk quantities. The ITP Astaxanthin lifespan studies seems to be using a dose that would be equivalent to about 3 grams per day in humans - so the 12mg product doesn’t really work for that type of dosing.

Seems like a supplier like this is more reputable, and given the large volumes used of this stuff in fish feed, etc. - I have to believe someone is selling it at a reasonable cost:

https://www.fujichemical.co.jp/english/newsletter/newsletter_nutra_0801.html

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#34

Yep, thats probably a very good choice. Japanese knows their seafood stuff.

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