Antioxidant Foods

Welcome to antioxidant foods. A web site devoted to inform the reader about antioxidants and the foods which contain this super nutrient. Research has shown that foods high in antioxidants to put it simply prevent and can cure disease. Please feel free to comment on any article or if you wish ask questions.

Some of the most unexpected foods have been found to have high levels of antioxidants. While everybody knows that
fruits like blueberries, acai, goji and others are powerhouses of antioxidants, very few people know that the humble bean could also have equally high levels of antioxidants. Particularly interesting is the fact that small red beans were found by researchers to be among the top of the list
in the legume family of antioxidant-rich foods.

New studies that are being done suggest that almost all fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, spices and legumes are foods rich in antioxidants. Very advanced research and analysis is being carried out on a daily basis to find out which foods are antioxidant rich. And you will find I am sure that many unlikely and unusual foods are found to be real protectors of the human body against disease.

It has also been found that foods that are highly publicized may be contain high amounts of antioxidants, it is the unpublicized foods that are by far the highest and healthiest for you to eat. Blueberries Acia, Goji, Mangosteen and others have been highly touted .for their rich antioxidant contain. However, beans and spices to name just two put fruit antioxidants to shame for ORAC antioxidant power.

Research has shown other foods that are rich in antioxidants. Some of these foods included nuts as well spices such as oregano, cinnamon and ground cloves. The reason why their antioxidant benefits are not so evident is that we tend to eat these foods in much smaller quantities than vegetables and fruits. But it research has also shown that even small amounts of some spices are far more powerful than a serving of blueberries.

Research using high technologyhas assessed the antioxidant levels in hundreds of foods including nuts,
cereals, fruits, spices, breads and vegetables. The antioxidant concentration was analyzed and each food
was given an ORAC ranking that was based on the percentage of antioxidant per a fixed size so that all foods could be mathematically compared.

Amongst all the fruits that were studied freeze dried acai berry was the highest followed by maqui berry juice, goji berry and black chokecherry. Spices ranked the highest are cloves, cinnamon and oregeno. In the grain world the many varieties of sorghum are the highest rated and in the vegetable world artichokes, onions, russet potatoes, cabbage and broccoli are high in antioxidants. In the nut category it was hazelnuts, walnuts and pecans that were ranked highest in antioxidant content and other notables are cocoa, chocolate and red wine. A list by ORAC score can be found here.

Recently antioxidant rich foods are being given credit for helping cure and prevent a majority of diseases that are suspected to have resulted because of the attack of the free radicals on normal, healthy cells. This destruction of free radicals by antioxidants helps stop the ‘free radical chain’ reaction and also repairs
cells that are damaged. Researchhas shown that antioxidants  have some link to the treatment of various ailments such as Alzheimer’s,
heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and cancer.