The Answer is Antioxidants

A good diet and a healthy lifestyle can help our bodies protect themselves against free radicals and repair free radical damage. Unfortunately, as we age we accumulate a free radical burden that can’t always be offset by the antioxidants in our food. Poor nutrition, tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption and other harmful behaviors accelerate free radical damage and the aging process. One of the best ways to combat aging and avoid disease is to supplement a healthy diet with antioxidants. Antioxidants benefit our bodies in many ways:

• They promote cardiovascular health
• They control excessive inflammation
• They maintain healthy cholesterol levels
• They promote digestive health
• They boost the immune system
• They reduce the signs of aging

The Nuts and Bolts of Antioxidants

Antioxidants come in many forms – vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes can all have antioxidant capacity. Most plants contain a variety of antioxidant compounds. Some antioxidants work in a lipid (fat) environment and others work in a water environment. Since cells throughout the body contain both water and lipid components, both water-soluble and fat-soluble antioxidants are necessary for optimal health. Antioxidants can help regenerate other antioxidants by recycling electrons among themselves.

ORAC Value

Antioxidant value is defined as the ability of a compound to reduce the amount of free radicals within the body. In the past 30 years, scientists have developed a procedure to quantify this value. Oxygen radical absorbance capacity, often referred to as the ORAC value, is a measure of the total antioxidant value of foods and other chemical substances. The higher its ORAC value, the more antioxidant value a substance has.

In studies from the U.S. Agricultural Research Service (ARS), scientists found that high-ORAC foods raised the antioxidant power of human blood 10 to 25 percent, prevented loss of long-term memory and learning ability in middle-aged rats, maintained the ability of brain cells in middle-aged rats to respond to a chemical stimulus (a function that normally decreases with age) and protected rats’ capillaries against oxygen damage.

If these findings are borne out in further research, young and middle-aged people may be able to reduce risk of diseases of aging – including senility – simply by adding high-ORAC foods to their diets.