quentin grady

G'day G'day Folks,

One of the interesting side effects of differences of opinion is
that one retraces one's steps and in so doing comes across research
that one would otherwise miss.

Astaxanthin is a pretty pathetic antioxidant by some measures.
On the Trolox scale that gives Vit C and Vit E a value of 1.0, some
antioxidants such as quercetin values as high as 4.7. Astaxanthin
gets a measly 0.03

However it has some interesting properties in that it is reputed to
penetrate some tissues other antioxidants don't. Whether it
penetrates the brain barrier or not I don't know though it should be
easy enough to find out ... it is easy to identify since it is pink.
Derived from algae perhaps it is the reason salmon flesh is pink.

Whatever.

If it is AND this research on mice can be applied to humans then there
is good reason for T2 type diabetics (NIDDM) to eat salmon regularly.

Best wishes,


1: Redox Rep. 2002;7(5):290-3.

Astaxanthin protects beta-cells against glucose toxicity in diabetic
db/db mice.

Uchiyama K, Naito Y, Hasegawa G, Nakamura N, Takahashi J, Yoshikawa T.

First Department of Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of
Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.

Oxidative stress induced by hyperglycemia possibly causes the
dysfunction of pancreatic beta-cells and various forms of tissue
damage in patients with diabetes mellitus. Astaxanthin, a carotenoid
of marine microalgae, is reported as a strong anti-oxidant inhibiting
lipid peroxidation and scavenging reactive oxygen species. The aim of
the present study was to examine whether astaxanthin can elicit
beneficial effects on the progressive destruction of pancreatic
beta-cells in db/db mice--a well-known obese model of type 2 diabetes.
We used diabetic C57BL/KsJ-db/db mice and db/m for the control.
Astaxanthin treatment was started at 6 weeks of age and its effects
were evaluated at 10, 14, and 18 weeks of age by non-fasting blood
glucose levels, int****ritoneal glucose tolerance test including
insulin secretion, and beta-cell histology. The non-fasting blood
glucose level in db/db mice was significantly higher than that of db/m
mice, and the higher level of blood glucose in db/db mice was
significantly decreased after treatment with astaxanthin. The ability
of islet cells to secrete insulin, as determined by the
int****ritoneal glucose tolerance test, was preserved in the
astaxanthin-treated group. Histology of the pancreas revealed no
significant differences in the beta-cell mass between
astaxanthin-treated and -untreated db/db mice.

In conclusion, these results indicate that astaxanthin can exert
beneficial effects in diabetes, with preservation of beta-cell
function.

This finding suggests that anti-oxidants may be potentially useful for
reducing glucose toxicity.

PMID: 12688512 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]


--
Quentin Grady ^ ^ /
New Zealand, >#,#< [
/ \ /\
"... and the blind dog was leading."

http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/quentin

quentin grady

This post not CC'd by email


G'day G'day Mike,

It is all a voyage of discovery.

Glad I came across the info and could share it.

While it is rather unusual approach, I have large ignored the
Protein:Fat:Carb ratios in designing my own diet to live with T2
diabetes and concentrated on ensuring I was choosing foods with
protective value. That meant ensuring a healthy intake of carotenoids
such as lutein, zeaxanthin etc. For the heck of it I ran a
simplified version of my diet through an Excel spreadsheet and showed
that for all the vitamins and minerals listed on the abbreviated SP16
database I was effortlessly meeting the RDA levels. My guess is that
part of the reason for this that in deliberately choosing natural
foods to obtain the polyphenols, bioflavanoids etc one is fairly
automatically choosing foods with multifactorial advantages.

I always get wary with synthetic vitamins. They have a nasty habit of
having a wrong molecular twist somewhere that comes back to bite one
later on the bum.


Some things puzzle me that make me wary of the GENERAL interpretation
given by the researchers that it is the antioxidant properties that
are protective. As I understand it the current hypothesis for
apoptosis of beta cells involves glucose and palmitic acid. Now
palmitic is a saturated fatty acid so I can't yet see what role an
antioxidant would play. Secondly if the Trolox score is to be
believed astaxanthin is a pretty feeble antioxidant. IMHO that makes
it a somewhat weird choice for an antioxidant if one is attempting to
show antioxidants are protective against beta cell apoptosis. My guess
is astaxanthin and beta cells have a special association in some way
much the same as zeaxanthin does with foveal region of the eye or
beta-cryptoxanthin with the cervix. Whatever.

For the moment I intend to keep up with eating salmon and green lipped
mussels on a regular basis.

Best wishes and thanks for the helpful comments.

--
Quentin Grady ^ ^ /
New Zealand, >#,#< [
/ \ /\
"... and the blind dog was leading."

http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/quentin