Welcome to part two of our look into antioxidants where we look at how levels are actually measured! Whilst the exact relationship between the ORAC value of a food and its health benefit has not been fully established, it is generally believed that foods with higher ORAC scores have greater antioxidant capacity, and more effectively neutralise harmful free radicals. According to the free-radical theory of ageing and disease, a high antioxidant intake from foods, will slow the oxidative processes and free radical damage that contributes to age-related degeneration and disease. Any more than this i. Any greater amount is probably redundant. That is because the antioxidant capacity of the blood is tightly regulated. Thus there is an upper limit to the benefit that can be derived from antioxidants.
It is well-established in scientific literature how necessary daily vegetable and fruit intake is for our physiological health and wellbeing, but not many people truly understand their importance in the diet. Fruits and vegetables are loaded with antioxidants i. Free radicals and reactive oxidative species ROS are synonymous. Essentially, free radicals are unstable atoms or molecules that are produced in normal metabolic processes e. Continuous oxidative damage causes inflammation which a significant culprit to many degenerative conditions and age-related diseases. Cultures living in the Blue Zones – the healthiest cultures with the highest life expectancy around the world – are a testament to the notion that aging does not equate to disease and poor health. Healthy aging is often defined as metabolic age i. A review in the journal Nutrients elucidates how reducing systemic inflammation is the key to longevity and prevention of developing a chronic disease. Risk factors for all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease CVD incidence were studied in elders in the northeastern Icaria Island in Greece.
Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. This page has been archived and is being provided for reference purposes only. The page is no longer being updated, and therefore, links on the page may be invalid. ARS is the chief scientific agency of the U. Department of Agriculture. ORAC, short for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, is a test tube analysis that measures the total antioxidant power of foods and other chemical substances. Early findings suggest that eating plenty of high-ORAC fruits and vegetables–such as spinach and blueberries–may help slow the processes associated with aging in both body and brain. Nutritionist Ronald L. Prior contends, “If we can show some relationship between ORAC intake and health outcome in people, I think we may reach a point where the ORAC value will become a new standard for good antioxidant protection.