Antioxidants | Benefits Of Antioxidants | Foods High In Antioxidants

Lets' talk about Antioxidants today. Plus get into the "benefits of antioxidants" and foods high in antioxidants. It is a very wide topic and can cover a lot of issues with ones health. Antioxidants are substances or nutrients in our foods which can prevent or slow the oxidative damage to our body. They may protect cells from the damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals.

When our body cells use oxygen, they naturally produce the nasty free radicals (by-products) which can cause damage. You can't avoid free radicals, their always there, if your alive and breathing ( which I think you are) your taking free radicals into your body.

Antioxidants act as "free radical scavengers" and hence prevent and repair damage done by these free radicals. Health problems such as heart disease, macular degeneration, diabetes, cancer etc are all contributed by oxidative damage...here is one we all like Antioxidants, Anti-aging.

Phytochemicals are natural plant compounds found in vegetables and fruit. These Antioxidants are vitamins and other compounds that protect our cells from damage. Whole grain breads and cereals, brown rice and some nuts are also rich in these bioactive compounds(polyphenols). Many of these compounds (such as lutein and flavonoids) may help reduce the risk of cancer (antioxidants).

There are so many reasons why we need antioxidants, and we do not get enough in our daily diets on a regular basis. No one food or food compound can protect you from cancer, but a combination of foods from a diet rich in vegetables and fruit can.

Choose foods high in antioxidants rather than take supplements. Experts say that the health benefits may come from the interaction of the minerals, vitamins and antioxidants in food. Antioxidant supplements come in a variety of ways. Superfoods is the number 1 way, but when your daily diet does not provide you with that daily value you should have towards antioxidant nutrition you need the vitamins, antioxidants can provide you with them.

Listed below is an Orac Scale. The USDA discovered this rating scale to measure the antioxidant content of various plant foods.
They discovered that a small group of "super foods" have up to twenty times the Antioxidant Power of other foods. It is recommended that we eat foods containing at least 3,000 orac units a day. If you look at the top of the Orac Scale you will see that Cocoa and Acai are right up there waving at you...And I have news about that too...(Valentines Day And Healthy Chocolate) but right now it is Antioxidant Health.

Have A wonderful Day Wherever You Are!
Trish


ORAC SCALE


ORAC units per 100 grams (about 3 1/2 oz.)

FOOD = ORAC Value
Acerola = 70,000
Unprocessed cocoa powder = 26,000
Wolfberry=25,300
Acai=18,500
Dark Chocolate = 13,120
Milk Chocolate = 6,740
Prunes = 5,770
Agel EXO = 3,848
Pomegranates = 3,307
Raisins/Dark Grapes = 2,830
Blueberries = 2,400
Blackberries = 2,036
Garlic = 1,939
Kale = 1,770
Cranberries = 1,750
Strawberries = 1,540
Noni Fruit Juice (pure) = 1,506
Spinach = 1,260
ViaViente Brand Juice = 1,245
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
Kiwi Fruit = 610
Xango Brand Juice = 621
Grapefruit, pink = 483
Grapes, White = 460
Onion = 450
Tahitian Noni Brand Juice = 416
Corn = 400
Egg Plant = 390
Cauliflower = 385
Peas, Frozen = 375
Potato = 300
Cabbage = 295
Leaf Lettuce = 265
Cantaloupe = 250
Banana = 210
Apple = 207
Tofu = 205
Carrot = 200
String Beans = 200
Tomato = 195
Apricot = 175
Peach = 170
Yellow Squash = 150
Pear = 110
Iceberg/Head Lettuce = 105
Watermelon = 100
Honeydew Melon = 97
Celery = 75
Cucumber = 60

More Antioxidant Capacity than 13 Standard Servings of Fruits & Vegetables

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