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Can Antioxidant Foods Forestall Aging?

Foods that score high in an antioxidant assay called ORAC. 

 

Two human studies show that eating high-ORAC fruits and vegetables or simply doubling intake of fruits and vegetables—both naturally high in antioxidants—raises the antioxidant power of the blood between 13 and 25 percent. The studies are published in the Journal of Nutrition (vol. 128, pp. 2383-2390) and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (vol. 68, pp. 1081-1087).

Early evidence for the protective power of high-ORAC foods comes from rat studies. Rats fed daily doses of blueberry extract for six weeks before being subjected to pure oxygen suffered much less damage to the capillaries in and around their lungs. In other tests, middle-aged rats were fed diets fortified with spinach or strawberry extract or vitamin E for nine months. A daily dose of spinach extract prevented some loss of long-term memory and learning ability normally experienced by 15-month-old rats. Spinach also proved most potent in protecting different types of nerve cells in two separate parts of the brain against the effects of aging, the researchers reported in the Journal of Neuroscience (vol. 18, pp. 8047-8055).

Top Antioxidant Foods
[ORAC* units per 100 grams**]

Fruits

 

Vegetables

Prunes

5770

 

Kale

1770

Raisins

2830

 

Spinach

1260

Blueberries

2400

 

Brussels sprouts

980

Blackberries

2036

 

Alfalfa sprouts

930

Strawberries

1540

 

Broccoli florets

890

Raspberries

1220

 

Beets

840

Plums

949

 

Red bell peppers

710

Oranges

750

 

Onions

450

Red grapes

739

 

Corn

400

Cherries

670

 

Eggplant

390

* Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity

 

**About 3.5 ounces

 

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