Superior nutrition and colour for animals
Multiple beneficial properties of Red Meal in your feed
Antioxidant
Its high antioxidant capacity protects animal health from deleterious effects caused by oxidative molecules produced by stress in high density cultures.
Growth rate
Adult Crustaceans and salmons fed with microalgae show better survival and growth rate. The balanced composition of Red Meal provide optimal nutrition.
Reproduction
In aquaculture hatcheries, the use of microalgae feeds increases egg quality and quantity and larval survival.
Immune system
Diets with natural astaxanthin enhance antibody production and immune cells proliferation which turns into healthy animals with higher illness resistance.
Colour
Pigmentation is a key quality attribute for consumer acceptability that should be monitored and optimized. The astaxanthin and carotenoids present in Red Meal enable to get an excellent pigmentation of crustaceans, muscle in food fish, skin color in ornamental fish, and egg yolks among others. Typical species pigmented with Astaxanthin includes Ornamental fish, Sea Bream, Yellow Tail, Salmon, Shrimps, and Poultry
WHY USING NATURAL ASTAXANTHIN?
A chiral molecule: shape matters in its effects
The Astaxanthin molecule has two asymmetric carbons located at the 3 and 3’ positions of the benzenoid ring. The hydroxyl groups that are attached to these asymmetric carbons can be oriented in space in different ways. If the OH group is projected below the plane of the molecule it is said to be in S configuration. The R configuration results if the projection is above the plane. Astaxanthin is then called a chiral molecule, which has three configurations, (3S, 3’S), (3R, 3’S) and (3R, 3’R), called enantiomers. Chiral isomers show different chemical behavior when reacting with other chiral molecules, just as a left hand interacts differently with left and right-handed gloves.
Chiral asymmetry exists in all biologically active molecules of animals like enzymes, nucleotides, amino acids, DNA, proteins, and carbohydrates. The three different Astaxanthin enantiomers can
produce marked differences in biological activities such as toxicology, pharmacology, or metabolism. The animal body acts as a chiral selector and will interact and metabolize each enantiomer to generate different physiological responses. One isomer may produce the desired therapeutic activity, while the other may be inactive or in worst cases produce undesired or toxic effects.
Some biological functions that might be affected by chirality
* Pigmentation: Deposit and distribution of pigment in the flesh tissue. Strength and extent of the weak bond that binds the Astaxanthin isomer to the actomyosin and alpha-actinin proteins of the fish muscle cells. Non-natural enantiomers of Astaxanthin could explain the color fading of the salmon flesh. In L. vannamei shrimp, Astaxanthin strongly bonds to the crustacyanin protein complex providing color over 27
* Reproductive response – Genes – Survival and growth
* Carcass quality
* Prosthetic activity in enzymes
* Immune system modulation against viral or bacterial pathogens