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Article: A daily dose of antioxidants?(Providing the Foundation for Healthy Food Choices)
- Article from:
- Agricultural Research
- Article date:
- March 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 U.S. Government Printing Office. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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We've all read about the antioxidant superstars--the blueberries, blackberries, and cherries, for instance--that are so effective at squelching the audacious free radicals that bombard our bodies' delicate cells every day.
But few studies have been aimed at investigating how well our bodies use these antioxidant-rich foods--and whether or not their soaring ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) scores really translate into practical, disease-fighting capabilities in humans.
The ORAC method, which was developed and refined by ARS scientists, measures the capacity of a food to mop up the destructive free radicals that are generated when we engage in ...