New Dietary Information: Zeaxanthin

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:23 pm

I'm reading Crustacean Nutrition by the World Aquaculture Society. It's a hard slog, let me tell you. But I have finished the chapter on carotenoids. I will be writing an article on all the information found in that chapter, but I think for the time being, it's very important that people are aware of a couple of things.

Astaxanthin is the critical carotenoid as far as crustacean health is concerned. It is 10 times more potent than the next most powerful carotenoid, and that is the form that crustaceans can use most efficiently. They can convert other carotenoids into astaxanthin, but it costs them in efficiency. It turns out that beta carotene is actually one of the weakest carotenoids as they affect crab health and biology. Zeaxanthin is a better substance if you cannot get astaxanthin, it is the quickest to convert biologically to astaxanthin. Beta carotene requires time and several oxidative steps to achieve the same end.

Krill, krill oil, copepods, spirulina (even more than you serve already), capsicum (red bell pepper), and xanthophyll-containing foods such as oats, wheat and corn are very important in crustacean diet. Crayfish are high in astaxanthin as well. "Biosynthesis or deposition of carotenoids may be adversely affected by poor lipid nutrition." More oily foods -- fresh seafood would be better than dried. It appears that good feed ratios of astaxanthin are about 1% - 100 mg/100 g of diet. This is for prawns, but can be applied to our crabs as well. They should have constant access to low levels of astaxanthin, or at the least, slightly higher levels of zeaxanthin.

I just compiled a list of zeaxanthin-containing foods. Refer to:

http://epicureanhermit.com/index.php?op ... &Itemid=25

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 7:12 pm

In the food list, it says egg yolk, this is raw egg yolk, correct?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 7:33 pm

It can be cooked. The egg yolks are high in zeaxanthin because of the corn-based diet of the chickens.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 9:32 pm

Very interesting, Kerie!

I thankfully feed mine YOUR hermie cuisine (rich in Spirulina), romaine lettuce, peas, & green peppers on a regular basis. My daily kibble includes wheat germ, corn meal, grits & flax seed, so I guess I've been doing the right thing without even knowing it! [smilie=confused.gif]

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 4:03 am

I want to thank you for all your hard work and dedication to finding out the dietary needs of hermit crabs Julia_crab!

Your research is helping improve the lives of many hermit crabs, and giving us caretakers less to worry about!

Oh, just curious Broccoli meaning the leaves right?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:51 am

The heads and leaves are packed with zeaxanthin.

There will be more to follow. I'm just really slow on the research these days.