What are the top foods for reducing excercise
induced free radicals?
Foods may forestall aging by reducing metabolism-induced
free radical expression? Want to increase your recovery
faster than ever? OXYGEN RADICAL ABSORBENCY CAPACITY[ORAC]
is a test tube analysis that measures the total
antioxidant power of foods, nutrients and other chemical
substances. The Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity--measures
the ability of foods, blood plasma and just about any substance
to subdue oxygen free radicals in the test tube. The test
calculates the ability of a product to protect against potentially
damaging oxygen free radicals. Consuming foods with high
antioxidant capacities[ORAC LEVELS] is a remarkable numerical
nutritional protocol with merit. Science has long held that
damage by oxygen free radicals is behind many of the diseases
induced by time and aging, such as cardiovascular disease
and cancer. There's firm evidence that a high intake of
fruits and vegetables reduces risk of cancer and that a
low intake raises risk. Researchers suggest that combinations
of nutrients found in whole foods have greater protective
effects than each nutrient taken alone. These same scientists
assayed commonly eaten fruits, vegetables, and fruit juices
with high antioxidant capacities and assigned numerical
values to each whole substance as OXYGEN RADICAL ABSORBANCE
CAPACITY=ORAC level values. [1, 2] The ORAC food values
are calculated by 100 gram weight[3.5 ounces], except for
the spices; some of the vitamins and fatty acid oils would
not be consumed in quantities that large, yet some of the
produce listed typically is ingested in 100 gram size servings
or more.
Adding ORAC-RICH fruits, vegetables, oils, herbs and vitamins
presents a remarkable antioxidant application for neutralizing
accumulated post-exercise free radicals. Studies at the
Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging
at Tufts University in Boston suggest that consuming fruits
and vegetables with a high-ORAC value may help slow the
aging process in both body and brain. Whatever slows aging
rate may hasten recovery rate. There is a need to balance
reducing free radical expression in two mediums: water soluble
and fat soluble tissue sites. Typically, the practice is
to overdose water soluble antioxidants and underdose fat
soluble antioxidants. Observe that fat soluble anti-oxidants
listed above in the FATTY ACID OILS column indicate a remarkably
potent level of ORAC activity per gram weight. This suggest
that when a fatty acid is in an oxidizing state, the amount
of free radicals generated could potentially be as much
as 100 times more than those created in water-soluble sites.
Vitamin E, Vitamin-like-E-tocotrienols, Beta-Carotene, Coenzyme
Q-10, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Lycopene, Lutein, Beta-carotene
or Astaxanthin for reducing fatty acid free radicals with
the fatty free-radical reducing foods is indeed a good suggestion.
Dietary fatty acid antioxidants take longer in transit and
circulate longer at higher free radical neutralization rate
than water soluble antioxidants whose turnover is higher
but whose food and supplement source is observed to be higher
than fat-soluble sources. It is perhaps the fat soluble
antioxidants which deserve more supplement attention.
See the charts...
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