AstaReal®: Natural Astaxanthan from Astareal, Inc.

Danielle Lin, C.N

Science of Your Life

Robert Corish, M.D. -AstaREAL Astaxanthin

Recording Time: 0 Hours 19 Minutes 40 Seconds

DL: Hello and welcome, I’m Danielle Lin. This is Science of Your Life, a series of interviews designed to provide you with the tapestry of nutritional and lifestyle ingredients based on science, specialty, efficacy, and clinical substantiations. Today we are going to talk with Dr. Robert Corish. The whole conversation about your life and personalized medicine is how he and I started a conversation that I thought was really important. We are going to talk about an ingredient. You’ve heard about algae, I’m sure. Maybe you haven’t heard of Astaxanthin but there is a branded raw ingredient and that is what this whole series is about. It’s called AstaREAL Astaxanthin and is probably one of the most powerful and important antioxidants that is found in nature and which is known to be 6,000 times stronger than vitamin C. So, Dr. Corish is going to be with us and he is the author of a Guide to Men’s Health. He obtained his medical doctorate at the University of Miami, Florida and he is board certified in anesthesiology and pain management and trained in clinical toxicology. He really is recognized as an expert in preventative medicine with an extensive expertise in natural Astaxanthin and why it matters. If you are listening as a manufacturer, this is about when you put a formulation together what should go in it? Who has the science behind it? That’s what this whole series is about. So, Dr. Corish, I’m so glad. I’ve been really looking forward to this knowing you are in New Zealand (one of my favorite places in the world). So, welcome from a long way away.

Dr. Robert Corish: Thank you, Danielle, for that gracious introduction.

DL: There is so much now. I had such a pleasant chat with you about a lot of things in personalized medicine and the future of where we are heading. My reason for doing this is so that when you look at scientific studies that provide extraordinary research, if the consumer doesn’t know it and the manufacturer doesn’t know it when they are partnering, this is what this library was built on. Astaxanthins are so beneficial and I would love you to talk about them in relationship for a minute for global health and well-being and why we want to incorporate this in a product line, for example.

Dr. Robert Corish: Well, I think you said it collectively. Nowadays personalized medicine (or precision medicine) is the direction we are heading, and it really relies on a lot of self-assessment and proactive preventative care. We know it is much easier to prevent an illness and stay health than to treat it. Astaxanthin just lends itself perfectly. It’s a wonderful antioxidant made by algae which we will talk about in a minute. It has the ability to protect the cells from oxidative damage and lends itself to this personalized medicine as a preventative shield from all of the oxidative damage and the toxins from the environment, the stressors that we are assaulted by every day, and we need some protection. Astaxanthin is perfect. I call it the guardian of the cell. It really lends itself to this precision medicine, the future of preventative healthcare, where we need to take some responsibility to keeping ourselves healthy, and we require a certain amount of tools. Astaxanthin is a perfect tool in our toolbox that we require and hopefully as we speak in this conversation we will get to learn why this should be in every toolbox as part of the personal preventative medicine.

DL: I was looking at the benefits and I saw mental and physical fatigue. When I read about that in the studies that were done, that blew my mind. Then it was eye, skin, brain, muscle endurance, cardiovascular, muscular recovery. As I started to drill down in I was fascinated because AstaREAL has been featured in the majority of the 50 human studies including 20 double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. We are going to talk about that. If you just joined in, we are talking about AstaREAL Astaxanthin and throughout the series we are going to talk about why it is important, what you need to know about it, how you use it, and how can a single formula (one raw ingredient) be so critical to a line if you are a manufacturer listening to this and you are deciding how to make a lifestyle brand. I’m Danielle Lin with Dr. Robert Corish.

Joining us is Dr. Robert Corish. He is the author of a great new book. I’ll tell you, I have done a lot of interviews over the years, this book is called, “Guide to Men’s Health,” and it has been a long time since everybody was focused on men. It was such a big deal for so long and they got all of the attention. Then women started getting more of the attention and now we are back. So, congratulations on your book. Today we are really focusing on something that really struck a chord with me when we were talking about personalized medicine. Astaxanthin is fitting into that because it’s such a potent antioxidant. When I looked at the research for AstaREAL to see who had probably the most studies, and as a manufacturer listening in, one of the things that is critically important is you have to understand that there are commodity products and there are products that are substantiated with efficacy, sustainability, controlled environments that are important when you are private labeling or coming to market. That’s why it’s important to understand what is behind this. When you look at algae, let’s talk about how did they differentiate themselves at AstaREAL with their Astaxanthin?

Dr. Robert Corish: I have a few points about that, Danielle. Fuji Health Sciences are responsible for growing the algae and harvesting the Astaxanthin that is made by the algae. They have a long and trusted reputation of 70 years in this business. They have been cultivating the Astaxanthin for approximately 30 years now. They are the flagship. They are the authority on natural Astaxanthin. They have more human-clinical studies that any other company, double blind and placebo-controlled studies, on humans. These are real people, real human studies with real results. It is the most clinically studied brand, AstaREAL. When I signed onto this company, this was the company that really was carrying the torch for human-clinical trials and continue to do that. All the other brands and companies out there, look to AstaREAL for their studies. Obviously, they would love to mimic and imitate what Fuji Health Sciences have done. They are no doubt the indisputable leaders, the authority, and the experts of Astaxanthin. The process of manufacturer guidelines, they were the first company to receive FDA approval for GRAS and MDI and suppliers or manufacturers in the industry know that is generally regarded as safe as legally developed ingredients. These are absolutely two regulatory requirements that you must have to be able to get by in the industry. AstaREAL is the first and continues to be the leader in research and in quality control measures. In fact, I think that their quality control is full of what I call clinical check points so to guarantee the quality, the stability, the purity, that it is 100% Algae made Astaxanthin. This is what has really pushed AstaREAL to the head of the class. They remain in front of everybody else with a long, trusted reputation. It is very hard nowadays to receive a good reputation. We have a lot of Johnny-come-lately types who want to cut corners and take shortcuts to the top by shifting the goal posts and shifting the standards. AstaREAL is maintaining the standards that continue to be the banner company. That is why I have subscribed to this company and that’s why I am very, very confident and very proud to be involved with such a wonderful organization. They take this whole project very seriously. This is not about producing a commodity. This is a stewardship. They consider this a stewardship towards preventative health care. I think this is something that everyone should know. This is a priority with AstaREAL and Fuji Health Sciences which really sets them apart.

DL: Yes, I think that is critically important. I know (as you know) that the FDA and the ramifications that are related to good manufacturing practices, there’s a lot of politics around that, but you’re still going to have to deal with it. So, the companies that are coming in that are doing it right so that if you are a consumer that is listening to this, you spin that bottle around and it doesn’t matter which company has the brand name, if it has AstaREAL on it that’s what you are going to be looking for. We are going to tell you even more about why and what it can do for your health when we return. I’m Danielle Lin with Dr. Robert Corish.

We continue talking about AstaREAL Astaxanthin and you might know or recognize what Astaxanthin is because it is kind of that red that you see whether it’s in a flamingo, a carrot, or a lobster. You see it in that shell. Even when you look at a salmon. Dr. Robert Corish is joining us. Explain a little bit more about Astaxanthin because it’s a vegan product from algae. Is there a benefit to that? Where else would it come from?

Dr. Robert Corish: Astaxanthin is probably mostly visualized by the public in salmon because it is the red pigment in the flesh of salmon. The salmon eat the algae. Remember that algae are a plant. It’s a plant-based pigment, a scarlet red pigment that is made by the algae as a survival mechanism. It’s eaten by the salmon, the krill, and the shrimp which gives the salmon and shrimp that red color. It is, as you have mentioned, vegan. It is a plant-based pigment. It is a very strong antioxidant. It’s a survival mechanism for that algae to survive droughts and any insults that would create them. It’s an antioxidant species that is a protective mechanism, a shield.

x: So, when I was reading the benefits and looking at it, everything from mental and physical fatigue through anti-aging muscle endurance, the cardiovascular, the brain health, skin, eye and are all obviously because of the antioxidants and the strength of it. How much, if you are formulating a product or a consumer that is looking for AstaREAL on the back, how much is the dosage? How often do you take it? Do you take it with food? How is it used?

Dr. Robert Corish: It depends on the particular condition that you want this for. For general antioxidant coverage I recommend anywhere from 4-6mg a day. If you are looking for cardiovascular and cerebral vascular protection, so we are talking about stroke, Alzheimer’s, dementia, thought processes and cognition, all of the studies are showing 12mg is the optimal dose. General coverage 4-6mg, cognitive, cardiovascular more like 12mg a day. You want to take it with food because it is a fat-based antioxidant ingredient, so it absorbs better when you have it with food. A once a day dosage is absolutely fine.

DL: The other thing that fascinated me is it does take a while for the AstaREAL Astaxanthin to get into the body. So, you are not going to expect to be taking this today and then tonight I’m feeling it. What is the timeline on that and what should someone expect? Does that effect the dosage when someone is buying the raw material?

Dr. Robert Corish: You said it correctly. It’s just like any other medicine. You need to get up to a therapeutic level. We talk about omega-3’s and they take about a week or two weeks. I would say Astaxanthin is about the same. Seven days for it to get to a therapeutic level, a level that we know the studies showed the benefits. Seven to ten days of those doses that we have just discussed, 6-12 mg depending on the condition to get to a level where you start to notice a difference. That’s what manufacturers should also be looking at, a 6-12mg dosage.

DL: They also, across the board seemed like there were so many areas. They are putting it into bars. Where are the other areas someone might find it outside? There are nutritional supplements, but you might go shopping in the future and see natural products at stores or lifestyle stores, or even pharmacies.

Dr. Robert Corish: Yeah, we’ve seen an explosion with Astaxanthin in the marketplace because of all the wonderful studies that AstaREAL has provided for us. We have seen it in a gel format, a gel capsule, but yes, it is also available in drinks. So, sports and recovery sports drinks, snack bars, energy bars, and gels like you see in the Asian markets and European markets.

DL: Are you talking about the gel packets where you tear it off and sip it?

Dr. Robert Corish: Gel packets. You just pop these gels and eat them almost like we would eat a snack or energy bar. They will consume a gel. That is the three foremost formats that you would see Astaxanthin presented but by far it is still in a gel capsule.

DL: We’re going to talk about a new study that was recently published that is very important. We are talking about AstaREAL Astaxanthin and I will give you websites and information if you are a manufacturer. They have partnerships they can guide you through to help you formulate and we will talk about how you can go down that journey and make a real difference in human and pet health, by the way. I’m Danielle Lin.

There is so much to talk about when you really look at the human body and also for pets in this case with Astaxanthin and AstaREAL. I want to give you the information. If you are a manufacturer and you want to look at a single ingredient or a formulated ingredient, the company can help you do that. You can visit astareal.com and then if you are a consumer and you are listening you can go to astaxanthin.net but you can find AstaREAL on the label of products at pharmacies, at natural products stores, anywhere where health products are sold. The study, let’s talk. We are talking with Dr. Robert Corish. The study that was done was incredible with AstaREAL talking about cognitive function and alleviating fatigue like mentally (where you really need to rest your brain). Can you talk about that please?

Dr. Robert Corish: This is a great study that just came out recently at the end of last year in the Journal of Therapeutics and Medicines. What this study did, it was a controlled study, double blind, placebo controlled. They took two groups of people, divided them in two. One group took a placebo, the other group took AstaREAL. Each group was subject to a timed-mental exercise. What it consisted of was continuous calculations for 15 minutes with a 1-minute break and then a second set of continuous calculations for 15 minutes. The study showed that the group that took AstaREAL scored far higher on the scores of these calculations than the placebo group who committed far more errors. These errors were due to mental fatigue. It wasn’t due to the cognitive capability. It was just due to mental fatigue. Reports show that the groups that took the AstaREAL had far more energy, continued to want to do more calculations, and this is one of the first studies that has combined mental fatigue with physical fatigue. This same group had to get on a bicycle and do an exercise for 30 minutes. The recovery time was much quicker with the AstaREAL group. This is real science and real people showing these results. This was one of the pilot studies to show AstaREAL Astaxanthin helps to combat both physical and mental fatigue. It really is a groundbreaking study.

DL: I thought that was phenomenal because when you look at it and you say…you are saying Asta-Re-Al. Is it Asta Re Al or Asta REAL?

Dr. Robert Corish: That’s my European coming out. It is Asta real. It is acceptable both ways. DL: Okay, good. I was going back and forth and just wanted to make sure of the proper term. Tomato/tomato. When you took at the eyes, the skin, the brain, and I also saw the study with muscle endurance and muscle recovery. Would you take this as a daily part of your regimen or would you take this when you were going to go into performance? Is there any difference?

Dr. Robert Corish: You really should have a therapeutic level. This really is a daily supplement so that we get all the benefits to combat physical fatigue, mental fatigue, the antioxidant coverage, and not just physical and mental but also for vision, for our skin, for suppressing inflammation. I call Astaxanthin the most impressive age suppressant ingredient in the marketplace because it mops up so many free radicals, reactive oxygen species, which are the common denominator in all pathologies including fatigue. So, it really covers all bases and it’s just a remarkable ingredient.

DL: For potency, quality, stability, efficacy, the substance behind it with the real studies (not borrowed studies), as a manufacturer what I liked about this is you could be a company starting out or a company that wanted to build the brand (whether a performance drink or even for cosmetics) that assistance would be there. Again, let me just say that you can go to the website astaxanthin.net is one location and astareal.com is where if you are a manufacturer listening to this and you want to make sure. Dr. Robert Corish, terrific. I’m so excited. You definitely shifted my mind, and this has given me a whole new perspective on Astaxanthin, so we appreciate you being here. Once again, you will look in the marketplace. Think about this as a primary platform product in your brand; And super-important, you can find Dr. Robert Corish’s book. It’s called, “Nature’s Perfect Antioxidant Astaxanthin,” on Amazon. That is such a concise place to find the studies and everything about this unique ingredient. So, check that out. I’m Danielle Lin and this is Science of Your Life.