Astaxanthin
Of 1,072 on-market astaxanthin products in the January 2026 DSLD dump, the median declared dose is 0.5 mg, and 65.1% list unspecified/undisclosed form as the primary form.
Form share
Of 1,056 products with an identifiable primary form, here is the share held by each form of Astaxanthin on the market today.
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| Form | Quality tier | n | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| unspecified/undisclosed form | Unrated | 687 | 65.1% |
| Natural esterified astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis algae extract | Unrated | 369 | 34.9% |
Form share over time
Entry-year breakdown of the top forms, 2012–2025.
Dose distribution
Deciles of declared dose per serving (mg), among 952 products with a disclosed amount.
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- 47.1% of products fall below the fairy-dust threshold (0.4 mg, 20% of the studied low dose).
- 10.4% of products don't disclose an amount because Astaxanthin is declared inside a proprietary blend.
Where does your dose rank?
Enter a per-serving dose (mg) to see exactly how it compares to the 952 on-market astaxanthin products with a disclosed amount. The chart above groups doses into deciles; this looks up the exact percentile for one number.
By dosage form
By target group
Top brands
Search interest over time
How often people search for astaxanthin on Google, US only, the last 5 years. This is public interest, not DSLD label data — a spike here doesn't necessarily line up with anything on this page, and Google's own index (100 = that term's peak popularity in the chosen window) is relative, not an absolute search-volume count.
Or see this search directly on trends.google.com.
Forms explained
Label discloses only "Astaxanthin" with no source (natural algal vs synthetic) or delivery matrix; delivery matrix matters (lipid-based formulations raised bioavailability 1.7-3.7x in a single-dose human study).
Source: Mercke Odeberg J et al. 2003, Eur J Pharm Sci 19(4):299-304, PMID 12885395
A row whose own name is the algal source (e.g. "Haematococcus pluvialis Extract") declares biomass mass, not astaxanthin, and is kept unresolved rather than counted. By far the most common labeled source (the single most frequent on-market raw_form, ~180 rows for the bare string alone) and the material in most human trials, but no verified head-to-head human study compared algal esters against free/synthetic or krill-derived astaxanthin at equal dose, so it is not ranked.
Source: Park JS et al. 2010, Nutr Metab 7:18, PMID 20205737 (efficacy trial; source form not compared)
Reference values
- RDA (adult): not established — Carotenoid (xanthophyll), not an essential nutrient; no DRI exists.
- Tolerable Upper Intake Level (adult): not established — Not established -- no IOM/NASEM UL exists; no safety ceiling was verified in this pass.
- Studied clinical dose range: 2–12 mg
- Park JS et al. 2010, Nutr Metab (Lond) 7:18, PMID 20205737 -- double-blind placebo- controlled RCT, young healthy women, 0/2/8 mg astaxanthin daily (n=14 per arm) x8 weeks; dose-dependent rise in plasma astaxanthin, lower DNA-damage biomarker and CRP (CRP at 2 mg only) and enhanced immune measures. Fleischmann C et al. 2019, Front Sports Act Living 1:17, PMID 33344941 -- RCT, n=22 men, 12 mg/day x30 days; reduced blood-lactate rise and VO2 recovery after a VO2max test, no benefit in heat tolerance. Meta-analysis: Xia W et al. 2020, Pharmacol Res 161:105113, PMID 32755613 -- 14 RCTs; HDL-C increased (WMD +1.47 mg/dL), CRP decreased only with long-duration dosing >12 mg/day, no effect on other lipid/glycemic/BP outcomes.
- Note: DSLD declares astaxanthin in both mcg and mg; the matcher normalizes mcg to mg. Rows named "Haematococcus pluvialis (Extract)" declare the mass of the algal biomass, not of astaxanthin: they are NOT compound aliases but are listed as aliases of the algal form, so they match with the amount left unresolved (never counted as mg astaxanthin). Generic "Algae"/"Krill Oil" rows are not aliased at all (ordinary ingredients elsewhere). Astaxanthin is highly lipophilic: in a single-dose study (40 mg, open parallel design, n=32 volunteers) lipid-based formulations gave 1.7-3.7x the bioavailability of a commercial supplement (Mercke Odeberg J et al. 2003, Eur J Pharm Sci 19(4):299-304, PMID 12885395), so formulation matters at least as much as the mg figure.