Anti Aging Skin Care Mag

Many fruits and vegetables are known to be good sources of antioxidant vitamins, such as E, C, and beta carotene, a form of vitamin A. However these natural foods also contain other compounds, collectively known as phytonutrients that may contribute to health. This means they not only have a role as dietary antioxidants but also contributes to other biological functions as well.

There are several methods including ORAC, FRAP and TEAC to track the antioxidant capacities of foods that are claimed to be high in antioxidants. Antioxidant capacity measures may vary due to factors such the type of cultivar studied and its growing and harvesting conditions, as well as the methods used for a food sample’s preparation, processing, or analysis.

ORAC assay is considered by some to be a preferable method to evaluate the antioxidant capacities of foods because of its biological relevance to the in vivo antioxidant efficacy. Thus many of the fruits, nuts, vegetables and spices were analyzed for their Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, known as ORAC. The ability of antioxidants to be absorbed and utilized within the human body was also studied.

Data on foods analyzed using the ORAC method were also gathered during an extensive search of peer-reviewed, scientific literature, and screened through a USDA-developed, data-quality-evaluation system. Both the screened data and the analyzed data are listed in the database, along with data quality indicators.

Measures of the antioxidant capacities of 277 selected foods were released. The new release expands upon the 2004 data release by ARS on estimates of the antioxidant capacity of 171 foods.

The new database provides easy access to antioxidant values for a wide variety of foods, many of which may be excellent sources of healthful compounds. The database will be used by scientists to help guide ongoing research into the benefits of antioxidants correlation to health.

Source: Data On Food Antioxidants Aid Research