ORAC values
Many chronic and degenerative diseases, such as cancer, Alzheimer, Parkinson and heart disease are partly caused by oxidative stress, caused by free radicals. Antioxidants in foods, such as vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium and many phytochemicals can eliminate these free radicals. There exist different methods to measure the antioxidant capacity of foods and phytochemicals: Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC), Ferric Ion Reducing Power (FRAP) and Trolox Equivalence Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC).. The most popular method is the ORAC determination, which was developed by the National Institutes of Health in Baltimore. The ORAC method measures the inhibitory effect of the phytochemical on azo-induced oxidation of fluorescein. The fluorescent intensity of fluorescein decreases after the addition of the azo-initiator, which acts as a free radical generator. The degeneration of fluorescein becomes reduced by the presence of antioxidants.
ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity and is a standardized test method for measuring antioxidant activity of food and other substances. Studies suggest that a diet consisting of ORAC-rich fruits and vegetables such as spinach and blueberries may slow down processes that have to do with aging and prevent or cure diseases. ORAC tests does not measure the antioxidants bioactivity in the body, but indicates the potential the antioxidant have chemically. ORAC analysis, however, is a good way to check the quality of products but can also be used in clinical trials.
ORAC Charts
There are a variety of different ORAC antioxidant charts without references on the web with the claim that different products have certain specific values, therefore, we think it is important to only present the data from legitimate sources. ORAC values measures the antioxidant activity both chemically and physiologically. The reason that test results for the same kind of berries are different may be due to different grades of raw materials, origin and how they carried out the ORAC test. One can measure the total antioxidant activity or choose to look at a single substance.
