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FOCUS ON ANTIOXIDANTS FOR ANTI-AGING!

Although many people graciously accept wrinkles as a right of passage, many others are eager to spend a small fortune on various skin creams to fight aging and enhance healthier looking skin. A glance at the drug store shelves and cosmetic counters shows a variety of facial creams with common ingredients ranging from vitamin C to green tea. Many of these products actually serve as topical antioxidants. And most health conscious people know that antioxidants are compounds that in some way protect against damaging free radical production. You don't need to be a chemist to know that free radicals are a trigger for most diseases as well as the visible signs of aging! So the medical community has established that antioxidants are good for our skin, but will adding those antioxidants to our diet help us live a healthier, perhaps longer, and less wrinkled life? The answer is "yes"!

Do you know how your antioxidant intake stacks up?

Scientists at Tufts University have come up with a score card for the antioxidant value of various foods. It is known as ORAC, short for oxygen radical absorbency capacity. The higher the score, the more antioxidants in the food. Scientists are suggesting that our score should be about 5000 ORAC units to offer sufficient protection against poor physiologic aging.

Fruits (about 1/2 cup)		Vegetables (about 1/2 cup)
Prunes	5770	Kale	1770
Pomegranates	3307	Raw spinach	1260
Raisins	2830	Yellow squash	1150
Blueberries	2400	Brussels sprouts	980
Blackberries	2036	Broccoli flowers	890
Strawberries	1540	Beets	840
Raspberries	1220	Avocado	782
Plums	949	Red Bell Pepper	710

Other foods with very high ORAC values include dark chocolate as well as clove, thyme, and oregano oil. Of course, along with high ORAC scores, these foods also come with a large dose of calories.

And can you just pop some supplements to increase your ORAC score? Vitamins C and E do have high ORAC scores, but research to date suggests that there is probably a complex interaction between compounds in foods which actually affect the ORAC score, so your best bet is to go with what nature has formulated.

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