The difference in color is thanks to astaxanthin, a bright red molecule found in algae, plankton, and krill. This stuff is powerful. Astaxanthin:
- is a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory [1].
- Improves blood flow [1].
- Protects your mitochondria by strengthening their cell membranes keeping out damaging oxygen species [2].
- Enhances mitochondrial energy production [2].
- Increases strength endurance by more than 50% when used as a supplement, according to one study. The study was sponsored by an astaxanthin supplement company, so take the results with a grain of salt. That said, the study was also randomized and placebo-controlled, and it had a good number of participants [3].
Wild salmon get plenty of astaxanthin from their diets – especially sockeye salmon, which almost exclusively eat astaxanthin-rich plankton. Farmed salmon eat food pellets that don’t contain natural astaxanthin, so farmers add in a synthetic version. Most commercial astaxanthin comes from petrochemicals like coal [4], and it’s not chemically identical to natural astaxanthin.