Supplementation is the best way to get your daily intake of astaxanthin

Most people get a very low intake of the super antioxidant astaxanthin from their original food intake.  This is due to the fact that
astaxanthin is mainly found in food such as salmon and crustaceans and many people do not eat these foods regularly.  Furthermore, farmed salmon are only fed with synthetic astaxanthin, which does not have the same bioavailability as a natural source.

Fig 1. Blood concentration of astaxanthin
after supplementation for 12 weeks.

If you eat 3 mg/day the uptake will also be about 3 times higher compared to eating 1 mg/day.  It was also shown that the amount of astaxanthin in the blood will be higher if you take astaxanthin during a longer period of time.  After 12 weeks of supplementation the blood level from taking 3 mg/day of astaxanthin was about 4 times higher compared to only 4 weeks of supplementation.

In addition, astaxanthin was also detected in the red blood cells indicating a strong ability of astaxanthin to protect red blood cells from oxidation.

Reference: Miyazawa T et al. Plasma carotenoid concentrations before and after supplementation with astaxanthin in middle-aged and senior subjects. Biosci Biotechnology Biochem. 2011;75(9):1856-1858.