MICRONUTRIENTS
Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity
ORAC, what is that? - ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity)
Is a standardized test adopted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to measure the Total Antioxidant Potency of foods and nutritional supplements. It provides a very precise way of establishing the Free Radical destroying or neutralizing power of a particular food supplement or compound. Whole foods that score high in an antioxidant assay called ORAC are recognized to protect cells and their components from damage by oxygen radicals. The ORAC standard is necessary because thousands of antioxidants exist in foods making it impossible to measure each individual antioxidant. ORAC provides an excellent method of determining the overall antioxidant potency of foods.
Numerous government and private agencies are now recommending 5-9 servings of vegetables and fruit per day. Why? Scientists have learned that phytochemicals, including antioxidants, increase our resistance to disease and boost immunity. But scientists don't know why phytochemicals seem to lose their disease-fighting powers when they are isolated from the plant (as with antioxidant supplements). Bottom line is God didn't provide us with beta carotene plants, superoxide dismutase plants, vitamin E plants etc. He provided us with plants containing thousands of nutrients that work synergistically in our bodies providing optimum health. The most effective way of getting these powerful antioxidants into the body is from whole plant food sources.
Is a standardized test adopted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to measure the Total Antioxidant Potency of foods and nutritional supplements. It provides a very precise way of establishing the Free Radical destroying or neutralizing power of a particular food supplement or compound. Whole foods that score high in an antioxidant assay called ORAC are recognized to protect cells and their components from damage by oxygen radicals. The ORAC standard is necessary because thousands of antioxidants exist in foods making it impossible to measure each individual antioxidant. ORAC provides an excellent method of determining the overall antioxidant potency of foods.
Numerous government and private agencies are now recommending 5-9 servings of vegetables and fruit per day. Why? Scientists have learned that phytochemicals, including antioxidants, increase our resistance to disease and boost immunity. But scientists don't know why phytochemicals seem to lose their disease-fighting powers when they are isolated from the plant (as with antioxidant supplements). Bottom line is God didn't provide us with beta carotene plants, superoxide dismutase plants, vitamin E plants etc. He provided us with plants containing thousands of nutrients that work synergistically in our bodies providing optimum health. The most effective way of getting these powerful antioxidants into the body is from whole plant food sources.