Antioxidant Rich Foods

Antioxidant Rich Foods - Mix 'Em Up!

Several decades ago, scientists zeroed in on the fact that populations with noticeably better health or significant longevity were known to consume specific foods.

For instance, way back in the 80s people talked about how garlic was good for you. No one really knew why; they just rationalized it was okay to put as much of it as you liked into your spaghetti sauce, no matter how sexy your date was. Remember?

But people wanted to know why those antioxidant rich foods were better, and scientists have put a lot of research dollars into finding the answers.

If you've been paying attention, you know how antioxidants help you.

Now we're going to talk about which antioxidant rich foods are best for you. But first you must learn why it's important to mix up your food choices to ensure you're getting a variety of foods high in antioxidants.

You've read that the best antioxidant foods help you by pairing up with free radicals. Think of what a free radical needs: an electron. Think of what an antioxidant gives it: an electron. Guess what the antioxidant is then missing: Right again, an electron.

Once an antioxidant becomes defective, it's known as a pro-oxidant. Increased numbers of these put your body into a state of oxidative stress that increases cellular distress.

The National Cancer Institute has looked at the results of several clinical trials in which people got worse taking antioxidants. Several of these utilized populations at high risk of cancer due to smoking or pollutant exposure.

Researchers realized their subjects were focusing on a narrow variety of antioxidants. Studies like these are teaching researchers that different types of antioxidants help each other, so you really need to consume a balanced healthy diet of foods high in antioxidants.

You can't just focus on your favorite foods.

Nature does her best to facilitate good choices by pairing up complementary antioxidants. For example, vitamin E gets a boost from selenium. Vitamin E is available to us in nuts, vegetables with dark leaves, and grains.

And the selenium, which we need only in trace amounts, comes into a food from the soil in which it has grown.

Unfortunately most of the soil today is vitamin and mineral deficient, so it's best to choose certified organic antioxidant rich foods where possible.

ORAC Values

Spices and herbs such as cinnamon and sage appear to have the highest ORAC values and be some of the best antioxidant foods. However, try to imagine consuming four ounces of cinnamon in one day!

On the other hand, it's easy to consume 100 grams of blueberries -- you'd eat less than a cupful for fewer than 100 calories. So keep your normal serving sizes in mind.

Here is a list of various antioxidant rich foods you can choose:

Vitamin C is plentiful in citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruit, red sweet peppers, kiwi, grapefruit, and strawberries.

Vitamin E includes tocopherols found in cereals, sunflower seeds, almonds, vegetable oil, turnip greens, tomato paste, and fish liver oil.

Lipoic acid, which regenerates glutathiones and vitamins E and C, can be found in organ meats, broccoli, spinach, and extract of yeast.

Glutathione is produced within your cells, and if you take it as a supplement it is not absorbed well. But you can eat foods that will contribute to its production, including asparagus, garlic, and raw eggs. It's also present in whey protein.

Two cautions: Medications to lower cholesterol can deplete your carotene levels, and this is possibly the one antioxidant most often taken in excessive quantities.

Ubiquinol, which is familiarly known as the ubiquitous CoQ10, is only found in its natural form in the skin of fresh mackerel and herring. Fortunately, this compound absorbs well when consumed as a supplement.

Polyphenols -- these include flavonoids, resveratrol, flavins, anthocyanidins, and catechins -- are available in all kinds of berries such as acai berries, blueberries and coffee berry as well as grapes, tea, wine, olive oil, and chocolate.

With grapes and wine, the darker the better; green grapes -- which are technically white grapes -- lack the resveratrol that's present in the red and black varieties.

One last word to the chefs among you: unlike some vitamins, which evaporate in the steam that rises off foods when you cook them, antioxidants are actually rendered more digestible with cooking.

So the next time you want to snack on foods rich in antioxidants such as a carrot-and-broccoli platter, steam your veggies a little, first!

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