ORAC quantifies free radicals

ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity), a laboratory testLaboratory testing at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center, quantifies the ability of foods to combat free radicals.

It's been widely assumed that eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables, would help to slow down the aging process as well as help to combat the damage done to our bodies by free radicals. ORAC provides a means to quantify how well a particular food allows us  performs in fighting free radicals.

An ORAC value can be assigned to each fruit, vegetable, powder, etc - thus giving us the ability to quantify and compare the free radical fighting abilities of different nutrients.

The testing is currently in its embryonic stage. It remains to be seen if additional research will verify the conclusions so far.

If so, it will be an exciting time for all of us interested in maintaining our health into our golden years.