Archive for the ‘ORAC’ Category

What the ORAC score means

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

Antioxidants help eliminate oxygen free radicals from the human body. This ability is measured through a test tube analysis called ORAC, or Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity. The ORAC score is used to indicate the amount of antioxidants in one food source.

What are free radicals?
Free radicals are also called oxygen radicals. These are chemicals that form inside our bodies from natural processes such as digestion or physical activity. External forces such as pollution, solar radiation and rotten food also cause free radicals.

What do free radicals do?
Imagine rust forming on metal. As rust eats away the surface, the metal erodes and eventually becomes unusable. This is how free radicals attack our body – they weaken our cells, organs, tissue and other important parts, leading to diseases such as cancer, heart ailments, osteoarthritis and dementia.

The ORAC scale
Dr. Guohua Cao, a chemist-physician, is credited with the creation of the ORAC index. The ORAC test identifies and measures important antioxidants in a food source.

Foods with a high ORAC score can raise the antioxidant levels in the blood by up to 25 percent. Doctors recommend that we consume fruits and vegetables with a total ORAC score of 1,750 per day.

Because some plants contain more antioxidants than others, it is possible to achieve 1,300 ORAC units from seven kinds of vegetables or 6,000 ORAC points from just one type of fruit. Eight to ten servings of brightly colored fruits and dark green vegetables can give you an ORAC score of 5,000.

Acai tops the ORAC list
Blueberries, raspberries, grapes, broccoli, garlic, oregano and tomatoes rate high on the ORAC scale. But no single food source comes close to the ORAC score of the acai berry from Brazil.

A study done by researchers from the US Department of Agriculture, the University of Arkansas, Brunswick Laboratories, the National University of Singapore and the University of California confirmed that freeze-dried acai fruit pulp has the highest ORAC antioxidant values of any food.

Compared to blackberries (53), pomegranates (105), and blueberries (92), acai has an amazing ORAC score of 1,027 per gram. Some samples of freeze-dried acai turned out ORAC results of up to 50,000.

While these figures are impressive, they do not apply to all acai. Frozen, spray-dried and air-dried acai have lower ORAC values because many of the polyphenolics, enzymes and nutrients of the acai fruit are lost in the process.

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Why You Should Never Buy Acai in the Supermarket

Friday, January 16th, 2009

You are able to purchase acai juice and other acai products on the Internet, but should you purchase it at your local supermarket?

Acai is a grape-like berry that is found deep in the Amazon forests. Labeled as the number one superfood, acai berries have the highest and richest amounts of antioxidants a natural food-product can contain. They are known to provide significant health benefits to those who consume its extracts in liquid, pill, or powder form.

Although acai products are generally purchased on the Internet, some local grocery stores and supermarkets stock on frozen berries and even frozen concentrate. Beware of products that claim to be “fresh” acai berries. The acai fruit is so fragile it has to be processed within 24 hours of being picked, so transporting it fresh is close to impossible.

Whether you’re buying online or from the grocer, it is imperative to look for these important things to ensure that you are getting the highest quality acai:

1. Freeze dried and not spray dried acai. Freeze-drying preserves important nutrients while spray drying, which uses high heat, strips the acai of some of its nutritional value.

2. Maltodextrin, dextrose, soy and other fillers. Many manufacturers use additives when extracting the acai pulp from the large berry seed. Although they may not be harmful to your health, they are not supposed to be mixed with the acai powder.

3. Sweeteners such as sugar or fructose. Acai has a great chocolatey flavor on its own, so sugar is an ingredient you shouldn’t be taking in with your acai juice, especially if you are trying to lose weight.

4. ORAC test results. One of the major benefits of acai is its high level of antioxidants, and the ORAC rating will indicate the amount of antioxidants in the acai juice after it is bottled.

5. Chemical preservatives. Acai is a natural health supplement not to be mixed with chemicals and artificial flavors.

Add these five tips to your checklist when making your acai purchase.

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Highest ORAC Value Food

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

By eating high-ORAC foods, the aging process will slow in both brain and body.
 
ORAC, or oxygen radical absorbance capacity, is a way to measure antioxidant levels in certain foods. It was developed by a doctor who studied the aging effect and found that by eating plenty of high ORAC foods, the aging process appeared to slow in both the brain and body. After looking at studies done on the average person’s diet, most people eat considerably less ORAC units than the daily recommendation. This inevitably will lead to chronic illnesses and disease.

The food highest on the ORAC list is the acai berry. This amazing berry is packed full of nutrients, minerals, and essential antioxidants. Consuming the antioxidant supplement in liquid form provides you with the highest concentration of the acai and is the freshest and easiest way for the body to absorb it.

Other food products that are high on the ORAC scale are ground cinnamon, red kidney beans, pecans, blueberries, and tomatoes. These fruits, vegetables, and legumes are just a very brief list of the numerous foods that are high in antioxidants. However, the higher they’re listed on the ORAC scale, the higher level of antioxidant capacity they contain. It is also suggested that you get your daily recommendation of antioxidants from natural foods over supplements. Acai juice is a good food source since it is 100% pure in nature and very high in antioxidants.

Anyone that increases their intake of fruits and vegetables that are high in the ORAC scale will find themselves in better health and feeling great. Adding a product like acai berry juice can only intensify your body’s optimal free-radical fighting process. You will find this great acai juice a tasty little surprise that gives you a kick with the extra energy it stimulates in your body. So live a healthier lifestyle by creating a diet rich in high ORAC foods and using acai berry juice and you’ll be feeling younger before you know it.
 

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Fighting necrosis: take acai for a longer, healthier life

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Fighting necrosis: take acai for a longer, healthier life

Cells in the human body die and are replaced daily. There are two ways for a cell to die: apoptosis and necrosis.

Apoptosis is a process where aging or damaged cells in your body signal for a white blood cell to come along and completely recycle them, leaving no leftover parts of the cells to damage other cells.

When a white blood cell doesn’t come along and recycle cells properly, the cells break up and become free radicals which lead to cancer, heart disease, arthritis, tumors and all forms of aging.

Theoretically if you stop necrosis from taking place in your body, you’ve stopped aging completely and you can live forever.

Of course, that’s impossible. But there are antioxidants found in nature that can serve as our defense against necrosis. Antioxidants block or soak up the free radicals.

There are thousands of antioxidant compounds out there but they’ve always been found in very small concentrations. Until six years ago, when the most concentrated source of antioxidants in the world was finally discovered – the acai berry.

Tests were run on the acai berry to determine its antioxidant levels. The Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) ratings are as follows:

Strawberries: 36 per gram
Raspberries: 48 per gram
Blackberries: 53 per gram
Spray-dried acai: 64 per gram
Blueberries: 92 per gram
Cranberries: 94 per gram
Pomegranates: 105 per gram
Properly freeze-dried acai: a whopping 1,027 per gram!

Clearly, the acai berry is the most concentrated source of antioxidants on the planet.

The downside, however, is that acai berries are highly perishable. They can lose considerable amounts of its antioxidants and nutritional value in as little as 24 hours after being picked. It’s quite difficult to obtain a fresh supply of high-quality acai in the United States since the berries can only be grown in the forests of the Amazon.

Since acai berries are new to the US, not many tests have been run on them yet. But in 2006, the University of Florida made a startling discovery. Researchers placed small samples of the acai berry in a dish with living leukemia cells. The result? Extracts from the acai berries triggered apoptosis in 86 percent of the leukemia cells tested.

More trials are ongoing but researchers have already said that a cure for cancer from acai berries looks promising.

Heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and aging are all caused by necrosis. But they can be prevented or slowed down by eating large amounts of acai berries.

In the rainforests of Brazil where acai berries are grown, the natives who eat three servings a day of acai look very young and have none of the health problems that plague Americans. No cancer, no heart disease, no stroke. In fact, a 60-year-old woman there typically has no wrinkles on her face.

The acai berry is clearly the most significant source of nutrients and defense against disease and aging that humans have ever imagined.

Acai juices and powders are already flooding into every grocery store and health food store in the United States. The only question now is how to provide your loved ones with a steady supply of acai berries.

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Beware of adulterated acai berry juice

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

With all the health benefits the acai pulp promises, it’s easy for distributors of acai berry juice to win consumers over. But what you don’t know is some of these unscrupulous businessmen are selling adulterated acai juice, taking away the essential vitamins and antioxidants that make the acai the miracle fruit that it is.

Unless you live in the Amazon region, there’s no way you can avail of fresh acai berries. The only way to export them to the US is to ship them in juice or pill form. And by the time the acai berry drink or capsule reaches you, important nutrients are lost during the freezing and drying process.

To help you make informed decisions, here’s what you should look for when it comes to acai quality and potency.

Many acai berry juice drinks are watered down and have very low oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) rating, which measures the anthocyanin content. Shake the bottle and check if the substance is watery. Acai berry juice should be thick with visible solid pulps and Omega oils.

Some acai juice products are sweetened with sugar, and medical research has shown that sugar is the leading cause of inflammation. One of the health benefits of acai is its anti-inflammatory capability, so if your acai has any type of sugar in it, that totally defeats its purpose.

 

Never buy acai berry juice in plastic bottles. Exposure to high temperatures like sunlight can cause plastic to leech and lead to health problems.

Always read the bottle label. Make sure all of the ingredients of the acai juice are 100% organic. Pesticides will render the acai’s antioxidants ineffective against free radicals.

To avoid being shortchanged by dubious websites, always get your acai berry juice from a reliable source. Every time you purchase products from www.bestpriceacai.com, you are guaranteed of top-quality acai because it imports its berries direct from the Amazon region, and implements strict quality control measures to ensure that the purest acai is used in its juice drinks.