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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