The ORAC Scale

So I have been reading about the ORAC Scale (Oxygen Radical Absorbency Capacity). In a nutshell, they measure the amount of antioxidants in food and give them a score.

It is detemermined our body needs 5000 ORAC scale units of bio-available antioxidants daily as a minimum to cope with the average rate of oxidation.

So for example, in the measurement of 100 grams, red grapes score 739. Thats about 1.5 pounds of grapes a day.

How about garlic? Garlic scores 1,939. Thats about 257 grams of garlic or a little over 1/2 a pound. Stinkoooo!

How about the beloved blueberry? 2,400 . Thats about 208 grams and a bit under 1/2 a pound. Getting better...

Let's take it up a notch. The Ningxia Wolfberry! (not the juice) This sucker is the most powerful food on earth. Yep even better than the Acaii berry. It scores 25,300! So you only need to eat 20 grams or .04 pounds. Thats like a small handfull.

Oh it gets better! Lets look at supplements...

I take vitamin E oil every day. Its gotta be the kind with Tocopherols. This stuff scores at 135,000! Thats 3.7 grams or probably one softgel.

We are not done! This one will blow you away. Clove oil... who would have thought... 10,786,875!!!!! Thats .0046 grams. Thats like less than a finger nail dab.

So, where is the list? I have 2 references (so far, still looking into it)

http://wolfberryjuice.com/antioxidants-orac-list.htm
http://www.healthdimensions.com.au/a/181.html

Now go get a vat of clove oil and live to 130!

Fri. Mar 21, 10:41am

where do tomatoes score on this scale? I think this is a really interesting concept. This is the same idea as what Joel Fuhrman and Dr Oz have been telling us- eat lots of micronutrient rich foods. Some foods have a higher "nutrient density" than others. Strawberries score very high on Fuhrman's list for example and so do green leaf veggies like spinach.

Friday, March 21, 2008, 10:52 AM

Actually they score pretty low (200). However, tomatoes are actually one of those foods that are better for you when they are cooked, especially in olive oil. There is no ORAC score on cooked tomatoes that I can find.

Friday, March 21, 2008, 11:08 AM

OP are you selling this stuff out of your house?

Friday, March 21, 2008, 2:01 PM

Am I selling an antioxidant rating system out of my house?

Um, PP, did you read the post?

Friday, March 21, 2008, 2:49 PM

yeah, I read it, just sounds like an ad for Ningxia Wolfberry and clove oil, that's all.

But hey, if you are right, then that is awesome, I am all about eating the best stuff, just hard to find those ones.

Friday, March 21, 2008, 3:09 PM

wolfberries, also known as goji berries aren't all that hard to find. Nowadays, they're in many healthfood stores. In my Cdn city of only 700k people, there's about 5 different places I can buy them.

And, goji berries are also pretty high in protein for a berry. A 28g (one ounce) serving has 4 grams of protein- that's more than a slice of my turkey bacon. They also have more than 100% of your vitamin a req, and 15% of your iron.

I have to limit myself with them, cuz I can eat them like candy...

Saturday, March 22, 2008, 1:11 AM

So can you get them fresh or are you speaking of dried ones? Because I know that Acaii berries break down before they can get to the US. So you have to buy it in juice or frozen pulp.

Saturday, March 22, 2008, 12:16 PM

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