Oxidation Can Cause Daily Damage to Your Pet’s Cells – Help Protect Her with A Double Punch of Potent Antioxidants

Algae is pretty amazing. Although chances are, you’ve never really thought about it.

In the minds of most people, algae is the scum that grows in the fish tank or ruins the family’s summer lake plans.

But there are tens of thousands of types of algae, maybe even hundreds of thousands. And the right kind of algae can supply an amazing amount of nutrients for human and animal health.

Algae looks like a plant, but it’s scientifically classified as a protist – a microscopic, single-celled organism that can propel itself around its environment. Algae produces its own chlorophyll just like plants and usually lives underwater.

While you might not ordinarily think to give your carnivore pet algae or algae products to support her health, there are a lot of good reasons to do it.

Its impressive nutritional profile includes proteins, amino acids, minerals, phytonutrients, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins A, C, E and K. Many of these have antioxidant properties that help protect your pet’s cells, tissues and organs from wear and tear.

Antioxidants are highly valuable in a world filled with daily environmental stressors, including poor commercial food, chlorinated water, cleaning chemicals, and exposure to electromagnetic pollution.

Algae is one of the best sources of concentrated antioxidants to be found anywhere. It can provide a convenient, high-impact way to help keep your pet healthy and active.

Let’s take a look at how free radicals can put your pet’s health at risk and how two special algae may be among your best strategies for helping her stay healthy.

Free Radicals and the Dangers of Oxidation

Whether your pet is young or old, his body needs support to deal with free radicals, which can contribute to health challenges and hasten aging.

Free radicals are unstable molecules that form in your pet's body when oxygen combines with complex metabolic molecules. These molecules travel around your pet's body, looking to steal an electron from a stable molecule to stabilize them.

When a free radical successfully snatches an electron, it can create new unstable molecules with uneven numbers of electrons. In other words, more free radicals.

This process is called "oxidation," and once it begins, it can produce a chain reaction that generates more and more free radicals.

Oxidation in the feline or canine body is actually similar to what happens to a piece of metal when it rusts. As the oxygen molecules in the water react with the iron in the metal, oxidation takes place and the metal slowly disintegrates.

In just a few short years, that piece of metal can be reduced to a pile of crunchy rust.

Although you can’t see it in your pet’s body like you can on a piece of metal, oxidation in his body also causes damage, potentially showing up over time as health challenges or premature aging.

The oxidative stress resulting from free radical damage can also weaken and damage your pet’s cellular DNA, negatively impacting a wide variety of body functions.

As you may know, DNA is the “blueprint” of your pet’s cells. It directs all cellular activities, including the precise timetable of when cells should divide.

If DNA becomes damaged, cells can’t function optimally. Scientists believe that DNA damage is a major component of the aging process, and possibly affects normal cell division and growth.

These Molecular Defenders Take a Leading Role in Protecting Your Pet's Eye Health

Let's consider that piece of metal again. What if, before the water got to it and it started rusting, you painted it?

Paint acts as an effective layer of protection to prevent the metal from reacting with the oxygen in its environment. Now you’ve protected it from rust and disintegration.

Antioxidants are like “paint” when it comes to helping protect your pet's body from free radicals. They protect your pet’s cells by neutralizing the free radicals, rendering them harmless.

Antioxidants reduce oxidative stress in your pet's body and protect her cells' delicate DNA, which supports healthy function of her cells, tissues and organs.

Antioxidants are uniquely important for the health of your pet's eyes, especially in certain breeds with more protruding eyes, such as Pugs, Bulldogs, Boxers, Himalayans and Persians.

A healthy diet complete with foods rich in natural antioxidants is important for helping to maintain your pet's vision and eye health. For the greatest impact, look for antioxidants that can cross the blood-brain and blood-retina barriers to reach and nourish delicate eye tissues.

Support Your Pet’s Health with These Foods That are Rich in Antioxidants

If you feed your pet a homemade diet, consider adding antioxidant-rich foods to her meals. You can help her benefit from the following antioxidants by feeding her the following foods:

• Carotenoids: Kale, spinach, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, spirulina

• Vitamin C: Green leafy vegetables, broccoli, Brussels sprouts

• Vitamin A: Liver, eggs, cheddar cheese, greens, carrots, pumpkin

• Lutein: Green leafy vegetables including spinach, broccoli

• Vitamin E: Spinach, sweet potatoes

If you'd like to learn how to prepare a balanced homemade diet at home, Beth Taylor and I have written a book called Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats. It provides everything you need to know to get started, including recipes.

Feeding your pet a species-specific diet loaded with natural antioxidants is a great way to support her health.

If you feed your pet a commercial diet, you can boost its nutritional value by mixing in some finely chopped, antioxidant-rich foods.

Regardless of the diet you feed, your pet has a need for antioxidants. Of all the antioxidants I recommend for my furry patients, there's one that I consider especially valuable.

It’s a member of the carotenoid family, the same as beta-carotene, lycopene, and lutein. It’s known as astaxanthin, and it has earned a reputation as a “super” antioxidant.

Dubbed the “King of Carotenoids” – Astaxanthin Rules

Astaxanthin is considered by many to be the “king of carotenoids” – a potent class of fat-soluble antioxidants. So potent, in fact, that astaxanthin's antioxidant capacity is up to…

• 550 times more powerful than vitamin E

• 65 times more powerful than vitamin C

• 54 times more powerful than beta-carotene

• 5 times more powerful than lutein

Astaxanthin shows remarkably strong free radical scavenging ability and helps protect your pet’s cells, tissues and organs from oxidative damage. It’s also far more effective than other carotenoids at handling reactive oxygen species (ROS), a special type of free radical.

Another thing that makes astaxanthin especially impressive – and important for your pet in particular – is its ability to cross the blood-brain and blood-retina barriers to support brain and eye health. Very few antioxidants fit in this special category.

One of the best sources of astaxanthin is a microalga called Haematococcus pluvialis. This alga is typically found in shallow bodies of water that dry up from time to time, such as rock pools along the seacoast.

In just a minute, we’ll take a closer look at how scientists extract astaxanthin from the algae, and how it can potentially help your pet. But first, I want to introduce you to another antioxidant powerhouse…

This Blue-Green Algae Offers Your Pet a Broad Range of Antioxidant Nutrients

When I recommend a supplement, I advocate using one derived from natural sources. This helps ensure that the variety of cofactors and components naturally found in the plant are included.

With naturally sourced supplements, you don’t get isolated, lab-manufactured vitamins and minerals like those commonly found in commercial diets and supplements. Rather, you receive them as nature intended… as part of the entire plant substance.

One of the finest whole-food supplements I like to reach for when caring for my furry patients is Arthrospira platensis, commonly known as spirulina.

Here is what I love about spirulina:

• Contains one of the highest concentrations of nutrients in any plant, including vitamins C, A and K, several B vitamins, calcium, potassium and magnesium.

• Composed of over 60% complete and easy-to-digest vegetable protein

• An abundant source of the hard-to-find essential fatty acid GLA

• Contains up to 16% of its weight in phycocyanin, a bilirubin precursor that gives powerful support to normal immune function

Deep within spirulina’s deep green color lies a rainbow of natural pigments…

Green from chlorophyll, blue from phycocyanin and orange from carotenoids… all collecting the sun's energy to support your pet’s healthy, normal growth.

Spirulina has an exceptionally rich beta-carotene content, with ten mixed carotenoids including orange carotenes and alpha, beta, gamma and yellow xanthophylls.

These potent antioxidants provide a powerful boost for supporting health throughout your pet’s body.

Spirulina’s impressive list of molecular components shows it contains one of the most powerful combinations of nutrients ever identified in any grain, herb or plant – a true powerhouse of antioxidant support for your pet.

Spirulina Meets the Super Antioxidant… Introducing SpiruGreen for Cats & Dogs

Because both astaxanthin and spirulina offer such remarkable benefits, I wanted to combine the two to provide a broad-based antioxidant boost for your pet’s health.

So now I’m excited to finally offer SpiruGreen for Cats & Dogs – a unique spirulina and astaxanthin complex.

With SpiruGreen, your pet receives two of nature's most nutrient-dense dietary supplements to support healthy, normal:

• Brain and cognitive function

• Eye and retinal health

• Heart and vascular health

• Immune function

• Cell division and growth

• Skin health

• Movement and flexibility

• Central nervous system function

SpiruGreen packs a one-two punch for free radicals…

It offers all the nutrient value of spirulina – including carotenoids, phycocyanins and enzymes – plus all the goodness of astaxanthin, one of the world's most powerful carotenoids.

Together, these two powerhouse foods offer you a quick, easy way to make sure your pet gets a full range of antioxidants to help his body fight free radicals and stay healthy.

While there is a wide variety of individual astaxanthin and spirulina products on the market, many of them are of questionable quality. In making SpiruGreen, it was essential to me to find a high-quality manufacturer that I could fully trust.

I was delighted to find just that.

Our manufacturer combines their proprietary, patented Zanthin^® brand Astaxanthin technology with organic Spirulina from India, producing a high-quality product that delivers excellent antioxidant support for your pet.

It is produced in an allergy-free facility, with science and world-class manufacturing practices behind it.

The Astaxanthin in SpiruGreen Is Not Your Everyday Astaxanthin… Not Even Close

Astaxanthin is truly one of the most powerful antioxidants ever discovered.

As I shared with you earlier, it packs and exceptional antioxidant punch. What this means for your pet is more power to fight oxidative stress.

Unlike synthetic astaxanthin, which is commonly found in feed formulas and many supplements, the Zanthin^® brand of astaxanthin found in our SpiruGreen delivers a high-quality natural extract with scientifically-verified activity.

Let’s look at what's different about this form of astaxanthin…

Like most natural astaxanthin supplements, Zanthin^® is manufactured from the microalgae we talked about earlier, Haematococcus pluvialis. With this microalga, once the tough cell wall is cracked open, it is highly unstable and the nutrients must be extracted immediately.

The difference in our manufacturing process is the use of a proprietary extraction method that yields a stabilized and standardized 7% oleoresin containing:

• 85-90% natural astaxanthin

• 2% lutein

• 2% carotene

• 6% other carotenoids

Our manufacturer uses a proprietary DeepExtract™ supercritical CO₂ process to extract the astaxanthin rather than toxic chemicals (like many others do). It's far more natural and much safer for your pet – and the environment.

And they use a special stabilization technology called O2B™ Peroxidation Blocker to help ensure long-term stability and antioxidant activity of the extract.

When I recommend an astaxanthin product for my patients, I want to know that it's not only a natural product, but that it actually delivers the benefits promised.

I’m happy to recommend this exceptional product with 100% confidence.

Why We've Selected Organic Spirulina from India, Not the Tropical Beaches of Hawaii

There are a few important things to look for when choosing a spirulina supplement for your pet.

To get the valuable health benefits we’ve discussed, you want one that is high in total carotenoids, phycocyanin, zeaxanthin, chlorophyll and gamma linolenic acid (GLA).

And, for truly phenomenal spirulina, we've found that U.S. sources don’t always contain the highest concentrations of nutrients.

Here's what I mean…

Our manufacturer recently commissioned two independent studies by outside laboratories on the organic spirulina used in our SpiruGreen. They examined a series of batches over a period of several months.

These studies were complete analytical workups that looked at more than 30 different dietary and nutritional parameters, including vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and carotenoids. They paid particular attention to total carotenoid levels, zeaxanthin, phycocyanin, chlorophyll and GLA.

When compared with published information on Hawaiian spirulina, they found these important differences with the Indian source of organic spirulina in SpiruGreen. Indian organic spirulina had:

• 8% higher total carotenoids

• 23% more zeaxanthin (a critical carotenoid that supports eye and retina health)

• Equal levels of C-phycocyanin and crude phycocyanin; however, our organic spirulina has the potential to reach higher phycocyanin levels on a consistent basis

• 30% more chlorophyll

• 20% more GLA

These two independent studies demonstrated a far superior nutrient profile in the Indian organic spirulina. It was the obvious choice for our SpiruGreen for Cats & Dogs.

How to Choose a Pure, Safe Spirulina Product

Purity is another important consideration when it comes to spirulina, especially because algae absorbs nearly everything it comes in contact with… including toxins.

Here are a few questions to ask the manufacturer when selecting a quality spirulina product:

• Is it free from pesticides, herbicides, and artificial fertilizers?

• Does it contain any added synthetic minerals (the answer should be “no”)?

• Is it produced AWAY from industry, farms, and polluted bodies of water?

• Does it really deliver the nutrients it says it does? What's the potency?

• What quality control measures are in place to help guarantee a quality, toxin-free product?

• Do you have verification from third-party testing that your spirulina does not contain microcystins, including ß-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), a known neurotoxin?

It is vitally important to independently test any spirulina product for microcystins, especially BMAA, as they may present a potential hazard to your pet's liver and brain.

Most companies are not doing this.

Why Spirulina from the Southern Tropical Region of India is So Extraordinary

Outside the bustling cities, in a remote area of India, you'll find the manufacturing home of the organic spirulina that goes into our SpiruGreen. Manufactured away from polluting industry and farms, this spirulina is cultivated…

• With no animal products or wastes

• With only natural herbal fertilizers

• With pure, artesian groundwater

• Without nitrates or manure

• Without synthetic minerals

• Without pesticides or herbicides

In addition to these benefits, the manufacturing practices and use of pure vegetarian organic nutrients help ensure that the heavy metals in this spirulina are the lowest possible.

In fact, this organic spirulina is verified under the U.S. Pharmacopeia ingredient verification program and certified as GRAS (“Generally Regarded as Safe”). Plus, we test our product through a third-party lab to ensure it is free of 15 different microcystins, including BMAA.

It is certified by three major organic standards organizations – USDA National Organic Program, Naturland (Germany) and ECOCERT (France).

To meet these exacting standards, no trace minerals – such as iron – are added in the spirulina cultivation process. The practice of boosting mineral content by adding mineral salts is common with lower quality, non-organic spirulina.

How to Help Support Your Pet’s Optimal Health with SpiruGreen

It’s easy to supplement your pet’s diet with SpiruGreen for Cats & Dogs. Here’s what I recommend for dosing:

For Cats:

Administer ½ to 1 tablet per day.* To avoid a choking hazard, always break the tablet in half, even when administering a full tablet.

Some cats crave the taste of SpiruGreen. I know of cats who can sniff out tablets sealed in a plastic bag inside a briefcase! Other cats may be indifferent. You'll just have to experiment with your favorite feline.

There's no danger of over-administering SpiruGreen to cats.

For Dogs:

Your dog's size will determine the appropriate daily dosage:

• Small dogs: 1 pill per day

• Medium dogs: 2 pills per day

• Large dogs: 3 pills per day

• Giant dogs: 4 pills per day

There's no danger in over-administering SpiruGreen to dogs.

Boost Your Pet’s Antioxidant Protection with a Simple Daily Dose of SpiruGreen

Give your pet the antioxidant protection of two of the most nutritious algae-based supplements available.

For as little as ten cents per day, you can have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that you're giving your pet a double punch for fighting oxidizing free radicals in her body.

Even when she doesn't eat as well as you'd like, SpiruGreen can help provide the extra protection your pet needs from the daily oxidizing stressors in her life.

Help your pet stay healthy and active. Protect her from the daily damage caused by oxidation with this powerful antioxidant complex. Order SpiruGreen for Cats & Dogs today.