The Orac Antioxidant Scale Explained

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Many people are confused about what the ORAC antioxidant scale is. However, it's actually very simple in that it simply measures how much "fighting power" the antioxidants you are consuming actually have.

In more specific terms - the ORAC is a method of measuring antioxidant capacities in biological samples.

But nobody likes science jargon, so I'll keep this nice and simple for you.

First of all, ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbence Capacity. What it really means is that it's the ability to "absorb" free radicals in your body. After all, that's what antioxidants do - they kill the free radicals in your body that cause horrible things such as disease, illness, pain, wrinkles, old again and most every other "bad" thing that can happen to you.

What Is A Good ORAC Antioxidant Number?

When thinking about eating a particular type of food such as fruits or vegetables (I'll explain which ones have great ORAC antioxidant scores next) - I have found something interesting occurs.

What I've found is that the darker foods almost always have higher ORAC scores than lighter foods.

Here's an example. If you eat a dark plum, it has a higher score than something like a potato.

The problem is... some people get obsessed over numbers and don't focus on simply eating healthy foods. In my opinion, it's not exactly the number that counts, but that you simply focus on eating more fruits and vegetables - and if you're a little more serious about it (good for you) - simply look for fruits and vegetables that are darker in color.

With that said, I know you still want to know some of the numbers so I've included a few below.

On the left will be the food, the middle is the serving size, and the right is the ORAC antioxidant number.

Small red beans - ½ cup - 13,727

Wild Blueberries - 1 cup - 13,427

Cranberries - 1 cup - 8,983

Artichoke Hearts - 1 cup - 7,904

Blackberry - 1 cup - 7,701

Prune - ½ cup - 7,291

Again I want to re-iterate that you shouldn't focus on specific ORAC antioxidant scores but instead focus on eating darker fruits and vegetables - do it this way and you simply can't go wrong!

One thing I DO recommend is finding out the "main controller" of all the antioxidants, which is glutathione.

About the Author:
If you're interested in antioxidants, I highly suggest discovering what the definition of glutathione is because it's the single most important antioxidant in your body. In fact, without glutathione - your body literally can't function!



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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