The ORAC List...Stick With It, Your Key To A Longer Life!

What is the ORAC list? 

Who knows what ORAC stands for?

It is short for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, and is a test tube analysis that measures the total antioxidant power of foods and other chemical substances. It was developed by scientists at the USDA (United States Department Of Agriculture).

They discovered that a small group of "super foods" have up to twenty times the antioxidant power of other foods. Even more amazing..... these foods provide more antioxidant power than mega-doses of vitamin supplements! 

In studies with animals, those that were fed high-ORAC foods had lower biological ages as measured by memory, balance, and capillary strength.

Early findings suggest that eating plenty of high-ORAC list fruits and vegetables...such as spinach and blueberries...may help slow the processes associated with aging in both your body and brain. 

So take note, it might just be possible to reduce the risk of diseases and ageing....including senility...simply by adding high-ORAC foods. 

Recent studies have shown foods that score high in the ORAC table may protect cells and their components from oxidative damage. 

Below is an ORAC list which is well worth printing out and sticking to your fridge or any prominent place in the kitchen, as you will want to refer to it on a daily basis.

It is recommended that you should eat foods containing at least 3,000 ORAC units a day, which is not difficult, since 1/2 cup of blueberries contain 2,400 units.

So mix it up and eat the ones you like, and just a few prunes or raisins every day combined with some of the other high ORAC foods and you are easily over 3,000. And as noted in the table below, four fruits are at the top of the list.

FOOD ORAC LIST SCORE

(ORAC units per 100 grams/About 3.5 ounces)

Prunes 5,770

Raisins 2,830

Blueberries 2,400

Blackberries 2,036

Kale 1,770

Strawberries 1,540

Spinach 1,290

Raspberries 1,220

Brussels Sprouts 980

Plums 949

Alfalfa Sprouts 930

Broccoli Florets 890

Beets 840

Oranges 750

Red Bell Peppers 710

Red Grapes 739

Cherries 670

Onion 450

Corn 400

Eggplant 390

Check out Tibetan Goji Berry ORAC listing!

So there you have it. The take home message here is to not concentrate on taking just one food on the list, you need to mix them. As the physician and chemist, Guohua (Howard) Cao, who developed the ORAC assay said... "It may be that combinations of nutrients found in foods have greater protective effects than each nutrient taken alone."

Nutritionists are saying "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."

It's not too far away folks when we will all be scanning food labels for orac scores as well as calories and carbs.