NutrexHawaii BioAstin Supreme Hawaiian Astaxanthin - 6mg, 60 Softgels - Farm-Direct Premium Antioxidant Supplement for Eye, Skin, Joint & Immune System Health* - Blended with Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I have since Feb-2014 been taking daily 1 v-gel of this product which I recently started taking twice a day due to dropping the EyeAstin & discovering the need for at least 12 mg of Astaxanthin a day as explained below. At the same time I started this BioAstin Supreme product, I had started 1 EyeAstin daily which provides another 3 mg along with several other helpful eye nutrients. However, I've had to stop taking the EyeAstin since it's been confirmed to be in a non-vegetarian gelcap & the contents taste too terrible to swallow from the pierced gelcap as I am committed to avoiding consuming animal products for spiritual reasons. Anyway, since that Feb-2014 start of these astaxanthin products, I also have been taking 1 MegaFood Vision Strength Antioxidant Tablets, 90 Count as it provides a different combination of helpful eye nutrients. I now plan on taking that twice a day also for the full dosage as it contains all (except for copper but that is in my multi & few people are low in copper especially when they eat a lot of beans as is the case in my lacto-vegetarian diet) of the key nutrients a recent large government study found important for eye health (more details on this below). This data & my recent experience with the floaters vanishing as soon as I went to full dosage on the Astaxanthin made me realise I shouldn't assume that my super healthy diet & lifestyle mean that full supplementation levels may still be helpful or necessary especially for critical areas such as one's eyes.I had started these 3 eye health supplements on the recommendation of a medical intuitive I turned to for help following a routine eye exam finding beginning cataracts as well as high eye pressure despite no glaucoma anywhere in my family & no diabetes or blood pressure issues on my end or in any close relative. By the time I saw the Opthalmologist to look into these issues, the cataracts were gone & what had been a 20/30 prescription was 20/20 even though I'd only been taking the eye supplements for less than 3 months by then & that was the only change I had made. This was even more impressive in that through the years my prescription had only been gradually worsening so it was unprecedented to have such a significant improvement that has not only continued but further improved since I added Life Extension Bio Pyrroloquinoline Quinone,10 mg, 30 Vegetarian Capsules,, following some helpful Amazon reviewers saying it helped their contrast vision. I also rapidly had that experience in that I noticed that I was easily handling tiny text on the computer that I used to complain about for years.It seemed like I was on a good trend with my eyes including with the laser eye treatment for the high eye pressure (=26-30) starting to work so I was about to have the other eye (=right) treated in Mar-2015 when on 2/28 I suddenly noticed many flashes of light in my right eye whenever I moved my head or looked to the right even with my eyes closed. They did not go away & when I called to check with the Opthalmologist's office I was told there might be a tear in my retina & I had to come in to have it checked as it may need to be repaired immediately. When I went in, his extensive examination uncovered an area of the retina of my right eye towards the top right that he said was extra thin. As part of "posterior vitreous detachment" he figured that each flash of light was caused by any time that extra thin area got pulled which is what put it at risk of tearing or detaching every time. He said that put me at high risk for a detached retina especially for the next 4 weeks & that it was just bad luck that I was having this problem on top of the eye pressure issues despite neither running in my family as apparently they are unconnected problems. He explained the floaters were part of the vitreous detachment & they would either gradually break up or my brain might adjust to compensate or they might always stay as it varies by the person. So I didn't pay much attention to any of it as he said that as long as things don't worsen, the flashes of light should gradually end & they have done so though very slowly & still not fully.THE BIG PROBLEM WITH THE EYE FLOATERS SINCE 2/28/15 WAS THAT THERE WAS A LARGE ONE IN THE CENTRAL AREA OF VISION OF MY RIGHT EYE & I was soon going to need to pass my driver's license renewal vision exam. My Opthalmologist had said that none of my eye issues were yet serious enough for any of it to have to be reported to the DMV. He also explained that if I didn't pass the eye exam, there are many options the DMV gives for dealing with this so I should not worry about losing the ability to drive. Fortunately on the way to the DMV I realized that if I just move my head a little from side to side, I could move my area of vision around the blurry portion & that worked to pass their eye exam. However, that recurring fairly large blurry central vision area was concerning to have to keep dealing with especially because my work as a financial advisor & investment manager involves many numbers & details & requires reading & sifting through a ton of data all the time.SO I WAS VERY GRATEFUL TO ABOUT A MONTH AGO BY CHANCE DISCOVER in a reply RWM posted THAT ASTAXANTHIN HAS BEEN FOUND BY MANY TO DISSOLVE EYE FLOATERS BUT THAT IT USUALLY REQUIRES 12 mg A DAY. He first brought up astaxanthin in response to somebody asking whether he had found a good sunscreen. That got my attention as I HAVE NEVER LIKED USING SUNSCREEN SO I WAS ALSO THRILLED TO READ OF THE FINDINGS THAT IT PROVIDES NATURAL SUN PROTECTION BOTH INTERNALLY & EXTERNALLY. This information seemed to tie in with Dr. Oz having mentioned years ago that people who consume a lot of cooked tomatoes in their diet were found to suffer 30% less radiation damage from sun exposure than people who don't consume much lycopene.I IMMEDIATELY INCREASED MY ASTAXANTHIN DOSAGE TO 12 mg/day & ACTUALLY GOT A LITTLE CONCERNED INITIALLY BECAUSE MY BLURRY VISION AREA FIRST GOT WORSE. FORTUNATELY, BECAUSE OF WHAT RWM (see his 4/15/2013 review of this product for access to his extensive knowledge base & comprehensive reviews) HAD SAID ABOUT IT HELPING TO BREAK UP FLOATERS, I FIGURED IT WAS WORTH GIVING IT A CHANCE IN CASE THE INITIAL WORSENING MIGHT BE THE RESULT OF THE TISSUE GETTING BROKEN DOWN & THAT INDEED PROVED THE CASE i.e. the floaters were gone within a week & have not been a problem since. THIS FEELS LIKE A MIRACLE in that the blurry central vision & floaters had been so unshakeable for months & it's a huge relief given how extra critical my vision is for my work as well as for quality of life & freedom of course.I HAVE ALSO NOTICED THAT SOME OF THE SUN SPOTS ON MY ARMS & FACE DO SEEM TO BE RAPIDLY DISAPPEARING & THAT IS AWESOME ALSO INCLUDING BECAUSE I'd read that whatever we see on our skin is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the extent of damage that has occurred on the inside by the time it shows up on the outside.I RECENTLY READ SOMEWHERE THAT ASTAXANTHIN IS 75 TIMES MORE POTENT THAN BETA-CAROTENE WHICH WAS WHAT USED TO BE CONSIDERED MOST HELPFUL FOR EYE HEALTH. And having read that astaxanthin is more powerful than lutein or zeaxanthin indicates it can do so much for us given a 9/15/15 Wall Street Journal article about a large government study confirming many benefits from lutein & zeaxanthin: "When taken along with vitamins C and E, zinc and copper, the nutrients helped prevent progression of an eye disease called macular degeneration in people who already have it... As a result, the NEI added lutein and zeaxanthin to its recommendation for daily supplements for macular-degeneration patients, which it calls AREDS2. The nutrients replace beta-carotene, which has been linked to lung cancer in smokers and former smokers". THIS INFORMATION MADE ME SO GRATEFUL FOR SUCH HELPFUL REVIEWERS AS RWM MAKING MORE CURRENT INFORMATION EASILY AVAILABLE TO US as the only thing I was told by my Opthalmologist's office I could do for my long-term eye health was to keep eating carrots yet there is clearly so much more that is even more helpful & in fact critical. And somebody I know who is going through repeated super costly eye injections to try to save the remaining vision in 1 eye from macular degeneration got scared by her Opthalmologist from even trying any of the eye-supportive supplements I discovered even though I explained these were food-based & natural & worth taking to make sure minimum nutrition critical to the eyes was covered.As eyesight is ever more critical now we're all living so much longer, I personally think it's well worth taking the most helpful natural supplements given the difference I have seen it make despite my having since 1995 had an ideal diet full of dark leafy greens & other great vegetables & beans & all organic & freshly & healthily prepared. As lab studies have shown that a cell can live forever without needing to break down or age if provided sufficient nutrition & detoxification, I know that is true for every one of us. Therefore, the more we're able to discover such extra powerful nutrients as astaxanthin, the more we can be freed from even "incurable" or "unavoidable" effects of aging or injuries thanks to the unlimited ways in which nature is set up to bounce back & how much that has improved over centuries of evolution & thanks to ever more rapid advances in every area.

I started taking Astaxanthin about 4 weeks ago, and I noticed something... I researched, and found some info from WebMD that I think everyone needs to know about. I'm ashamed to go into personal detail, but it killed my sex drive (Yes, I am a Male), and made the whole function....not functional, and I am only 31.Here is a copy and paste from WebMD, before I asked on Yahoo! Answers:"Side effects. Astaxanthin may hinder an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase. As a result, it may keep testosterone from changing into the hormone DHT in the body. This might cause a number of side effects, such as:Lower libidoMale breast growthErectile dysfunction"You can research, or simply type in "DHT Sex Drive" in a search engine and find out just what it does.I hope this helps someone out there that thought they completely lost all manhood. I thought I did!From what I gather, this does not effect Women, but you may want to research deeper into this issue.MORE on DHT: "Dihydrotestosterone (DHT): It's important physiological functions, how it affects your physique, sex drive, nervous system, and the drugs that are derivatives of DHTDihydrotestosterone (DHT)DHT stands for dihydrotestosterone. It is a very close chemical cousin of testosterone and has many important functions in the body. It is responsible for the sexual differentiation that occurs in the womb way before we are even born. It is the dihydrotestosterone levels in the womb that determine whether or not the fetus will develop into a male or female. So, you can imagine, this is a pretty strong androgen. DHT is the most androgenic of hormones. Its responsibility lies in all of the male secondary sexual characteristics such as deepening of the vocal chords, male hair patterns on the body, hair on the face, oily skin (especially when you first hit puberty and your natural test is raging), and last but definitely not least, male sexual drive and function."I HOPE THIS HELPS!EDIT - June 7th 2014:I have found more information confirming this. I am not one that trusts WebMD on anything, but most know WebMD, and tho I have found information on other sites. WebMD was mentioned because this is what a large portion of "Internet researchers" trust.Please, read my 2 comments in the comments area.One person wondered why I gave it 5 stars. Well, it is obviously pure Astaxanthin seeing as how potent the side effects were. So, I do not crush the product for not working if it works exceedingly. It simply does not work in my favor.Today I have had someone post that they could not find anything on WebMD, and basically that what I have said is not true. In response, I have a link to a Reviewing section on Astaxanthin that is on the WebMD site. Again, the reason WebMD was used & a link back to this particular site was used to further express these facts is because the member stated it is not there. Well, now there is a link if anyone wants to read word for word what others have stated. I also encourage others in that comment to search any other site, or really the best thing to do is goto any search engine & read on the matter for yourself to conclude whether or not you want to pull the trigger & use Astaxanthin at all.I truly wish it did not cause an issue in Libido, and I wish it really were in my head, because it tremendously helped my joint pain. Unfortunately, wishing cannot make it so. Now, with that said, it could be dose dependent. So, if this issue is a serious matter to you, I recommend possibly finding (by searching search engines) a dsicussion on Astaxanthin, DHT & Hair loss to ask or find the answer to all of the questions anyone may have, because (again) this may be a dose dependent issue, but I do not know that you will be able to find that you can take the therapeutic dosage to give the relief Astaxanthin gives with getting the DHT issues that are associated with it. This is why I would encourage everyone to thoroughly research it. If worst comes to worse, try it at a Therapeutic level for yourself. If the symptoms do not arise, enjoy the benefits. If symptoms do arise, discontinue on Asta to see if your issues (ED & decreased libido, perhaps) go away a few days after discontinuation.I hope all of this has helped someone.