Antioxidant Power – Best Sources Of
Antioxidants, so many to choose from. Do they work, which ones and why? Free radical damage in the body has been linked to almost all sickness and major disease. Want validation? Go to a search engine like Google and type in a health malady, like cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and scores of others, and see how much information is related, the links to free radical damage and the particular disease.
The Orac Scale measures Oxygen Radical Absorbency Capacity of antioxidant foods and other substances. Some naturally occurring antioxidants that rate high on the ORAC scale are ACAI, acerola, the wolfberry, goji berries, cocoa powder, clove oil, vitamin C, green tea, prunes, pomegranates, blueberries and raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, broccoli, kale, spinach, red beans, pinto beans, raisins, garlic, and the mangosteen fruit. etc. The list is vast and there is a lot of contradiction of where certain foods rank on the ORAC scale, depending where you get your information and what quantity of a substance is used in the test.
There is also contradiction as to what happens in the body, as far as how much free radical damage can actually be absorbed by an antioxidant. This means does an antioxidant that is off the charts on the ORAC scale going to work better than an antioxidant a bit lower on the scale?
There are also 2 types of antioxidants, water soluble as found in vitamin C and fat soluble as found in vitamins A and E. Good sources of vitamin C of course would be fruits, berries, and peppers. he problem here is that with consuming a lot of fruit, you also consume high levels of fructose which the liver does not process easily. Good sources of vitamin A would be dark greens and fruits and vegetables dark orange in color. For vitamin E would be liver, cod liver oil, butter and egg yolks. None of these are good for your body, consumed in large quantities. It would make the most sense to eat a balanced diet with a variety of the above rather than trying to load up any any one food.
The only way to really know how effective antioxidants are would be to first be tested through an Oxi-Data test or similar test, then to start on a diet modified with a selection of antioxidants and test again, say in 60 or 90 days. My personal experience has been with the test is that mangosteen can significantly lower free radical damage in the body. In the pericarp or rind of the mangosteen fruit, more than 60 xanthones are found, each with different antioxidant properties, a powerful antioxidant source. In some cases it also makes sense to use a liver or liver and kidney cleanse (not a colon cleanse) periodically help these organs function better. Lowering intake of processed flour, sugar, and processed foods in general helps a great deal as well.
