Table I.

Demographic characteristics of the included studies

Parameter	Study
	Case/Control	Baralic et al. [49]	Choi et al. [9]	Karppi et al. [50]	MacDermid et al. [51]	Nakagawa et al. [52]	Saito et al. [53]	Yoshida et al. [33]
Year		2013	2011	2007	2012	2011	2012	2010
Jadad score		4	4	4	5	4	4	4
Location		Serbia	South Korea	Finland	Canada	Japan	Japan	Japan
Design		Randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel-group trial	Randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial	Randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel-group trial	Randomized triple-blind controlled parallel-group trial	Randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial	Randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial	Randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial
Duration of trial		12 weeks	12 weeks	3 months	12 weeks	12 weeks	4 weeks	12 weeks
Inclusion criteria		Healthy male soccer players, non-smokers, with no ongoing or previous (during last year) injuries and no use of any medication or antioxidant supplements for at least 3 months	Overweight adults (aged 20–55 years; BMI > 25.0 kg/m2)	Healthy non-smoking male volunteers aged 19–33 years with no severe diseases or malabsorption	Patients presenting with symptoms of primary carpal tunnel syndrome aged 18–65 years	Subjects recruited from the Anti-Aging Science volunteer database	Healthy volunteers	Healthy subjects with serum triglyceride levels of 120–200 mg/dl
Astaxanthin form		Capsules	Capsules	Capsules	Capsules	Capsules	Capsules	Capsules
Astaxanthin intervention		4 mg/day	20 mg/day	2 × 4 mg/day	4 mg/day	6 mg/daya	2 × 6 mg/day	6 mg/daya
						12 mg/dayb		12 mg/dayb
								18 mg/dayc
Participants	Case	21	14	20	32	10a	10	15a
						10b		15b
								16c
	Control	19	13	19	31	10	10	15
Age [years]	Case	17.91 ±0.16	31.1 ±9.4	23.1 ±2.3	49 ±7	56.3 ±6.6a	38.2 ±11.7	47.0 ±7.0a
						56.1 ±5.1b		42.8 ±8.8b
								43.8 ±10.4c
	Control	17.62 ±0.14	30.1 ±9.5	25.7 ±3.3	49 ±9	56.6 ±4.4	38.8 ±6.8	44.3 ±7.0
Male (%)	Case	100.0	85.71	100.0	30.0	50.0a	20.0	66.67a
						50.0b		66.67b
								68.75c
	Control	100.0	84.61	100.0	25.0	50.0	30.0	66.67
BMI [kg/m2]	Case	22.37 ±0.33	28.1 ±2.4	23.8 ±2.2	NS	27.4 ±2.2a	25.4 ±5.0	23.6 ±3.2a
						27.6 ±2.1b		23.0 ±2.2b
								23.9 ±7.0c
	Control	22.24 ±0.41	26.3 ±1.3	23.8 ±2.3	NS	27.7 ±2.1	26.0 ±4.1	25.1 ±2.8
Total cholesterol [mg/dl]	Case	165.21 ±7.72	178.3 ±3.54	174.47 ±25.86	223.88 ±27.02	226.0 ±39.0a	190.1 ±32.9	219.0 ±29.0a
						203.0 ±23.0b		215.0 ±22.0b
								234.0 ±29.0c
	Control	175.24 ±8.88	174.8 ±30.6	180.65 ±25.48	193.0 ±34.74	218.0 ±44.0	194.7 ±24.1	209.0 ±31.0
LDL-C [mg/dl]	Case	101.52 ±7.33	127.9 ±35.0	99.59 ±22.0	142.82 ±19.3	132.0 ±37.0a	NS	141.0 ±26.0a
						117.0 ±20.0b		136.0 ±27.0b
								157.0 ±25.0c
	Control	114.64 ±9.26	120.1 ±39.7	108.08 ±23.93	111.94 ±27.02	135.0 ±35.0	NS	135.0 ±32.0
HDL-C [mg/dl]	Case	49.02 ±1.93	47.2 ±10.2	48.64 ±12.74	46.32 ±11.58	68.8 ±19.0a	72 ±17.4	51.0 ±11.0a
						58.8 ±12.1b		55.0 ±8.0b
								51.0 ±6.0c
	Control	49.79 ±2.70	48.6 ±8.19	49.02 ±7.33	46.32 ±15.44	58.8 ±14.7	74.7 ±17.7	52.0 ±10.0
Triglycerides [mg/dl]	Case	74.34 ±10.62	110.6 ±51.5	107.08 ±73.45	168.5 ±70.8	111.0 ±78.0a	56.0 ±21.6	151.0 ±23.0a
						125.0 ±73.0b		147.0 ±21.0b
								151.0 ±26.0c
	Control	84.07 ±12.39	113.4 ±40.5	95.58 ±30.09	221.25 ±194.7	125.0 ±52.0	81.1 ±48.9	145.0 ±21.0
Glucose [mg/dl]	Case	NS	NS	NS	NS	102.0 ±11.0a	88.0 ±6.6	95.0 ±7.0a
						101.0 ±6.0b		98.0 ±5.0b
								98.0 ±10.0c
	Control	NS	NS	NS	NS	101.0 ±6.0	83.8 ±6.4	98.0 ±12.0

Values are expressed as mean ± SD. BMI – body mass index, NS – not stated, LDL-C – low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, HDL-C – high-density lipoprotein cholesterol

^a6 mg/day astaxanthin group

^b12 mg/day astaxanthin group

^c18 mg/day astaxanthin group.