Better than Antioxidants?

Would you rather repair the damage that causes aging, or prevent it from ever happening? According to scientists from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity (ORAC) could be the REAL key to longer living.

ORAC is a measure of the antioxidant activity against the peroxyl radical, which is one of the most common reactive oxygen species (ROS) that cause damage to cell membranes. The standard was developed in a collaborated effort by the National Institute on Aging and the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging. The higher an item's ORAC, the better it is at combating the free radicals present in our environment.

Free radicals damage the body and there is almost a universal consensus over the past several decades that the main cause of damage and aging to our bodies is due to free radicals. Stable molecules contain electrons in pairs. When the molecule loses an electron, this molecule becomes a free radical. These unbalanced molecules bounce around and create damage. The body repairs the daily damage that happens to it using antioxidants. Unfortunately due to the constant barrage of free radicals, antioxidants are stuck playing catch up in a losing effort.

ORAC units help keep the body healthy in a different way. ORAC units lend electrons, preventing unbalanced molecules from creating havoc to the body. Many times ORAC units help stop damage to the body before it begins! This is a much more effective way to keep a person healthy, than to fix him after the fact (via antioxidant repair after the damage has occurred). This reduces the total number of molecules needed to be repaired, thereby increasing the effectiveness of antioxidants if taken in tandem.

The average human takes in about 1600 ORAC units. The scientists of Tufts University recommend that we increase our average intake to somewhere between 3000-5000 units per day. As it turns out, many antioxidant rich foods (blueberries, red wine, tomato paste) contain a high quantity of ORAC units, as well as black tea and many other fruit and vegetables.

Unfortunately, it would be very difficult to consume the optimum amount of ORAC units in a day without a major change in diet. A person would have to eat at least ten servings of high ORAC fruit and vegetables per day just to reach the minimum daily standard. When you combine that with the other demands of healthy eating habits, it’s obvious that a new focus is on the horizon for the health minded individual.

It’s essential that we make a conscious plan to add those extra ORAC units to our daily intake:

Women: Go out there and add an additional 1500 ORAC units per day!

Men: I want you to add around 3000!

Below you’ll find a link to a listing of ORAC values of many edible items. All values are listed in relation to 100 grams of the substance. If you’d like to know the value per gram simply divide the ORAC value by 100.

ORAC VALUE DATABASE

Personally, I usually have at least one cup of black tea daily for about 1000 ORAC units. Whenever possible, I eat Italian food for the tomato paste and supplement an unusually high amount of vitamin C (vitamin C supplements are high in ORAC value) . I also have two highly concentrated ORAC fruit drinks of between 2 to 4 ounces to supplement my ORAC intake. It’s up to you to make the effort and commit to hitting your ORAC quota each day, if you are truly serious about combating the effects of aging.