Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) is a test tube analysis that measures the total antioxidant power of foods and other chemical substances.

First research reports suggest that eating high-ORAC fruits and vegetablessuch as spinach and blueberriesmay help slow the aging processes in both body and brain.

ARS Administrator, Floyd P. Horn, states, “If these findings are borne out in further research, young and middle-aged people may be able to reduce risk of diseases of agingincluding senilitysimply by adding high-ORAC foods to their diets.”

The studies revealed high-ORAC foods:

Raised the antioxidant power of human blood 10 to 25 percent

Prevented some loss of long-term memory and learning ability in middle-aged rats

Maintained the ability of brain cells in middle-aged rats to respond to a chemical stimulus–a function that normally decreases with age
Protected rats’ tiny blood vessels–capillaries–against oxygen damage

The health community has long held the thesis that oxidative damage culminates in many of the maladies of aging. The evidence has stimulated sales of antioxidant vitamins. However, the early studies have mixed results.

Nutritionist Ronald L. Prior posits, “If we can show some relationship between ORAC intake and health outcome in people, I think we may reach a point where the ORAC value will become a new standard for good antioxidant protection.”

In a second study, men and women had a 13- to 15-percent increase in the antioxidant power of their blood after doubling their daily fruit and vegetable intake compared to what they consumed before the study. Just doubling intake, without regard to ORAC scores of the fruits and vegetables, more than doubled the number of ORAC units the volunteers consumed, Prior said.

While the research jury is still weighing the evidence, one company has hit the market place with a product, few can resist. Xo

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