'The top six foods with the highest antioxidant values on the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) scale are cheaper and more readily available the more expensive alternatives with lower ORAC scores.Although cocoa and acai are popularly promoted in health circles as the top superfoods having the highest antioxidant values, this is only hype as part of their marketing efforts to promote what has quickly become a billion dollar industry. The fact is, they don't even make the list of top six foods with the highest ORAC values which is one of the most accurate methods of measuring antioxidant capacities in biological samples.
ORAC units or "ORAC score" were developed by the National Institute on Aging in the National Institutes of Health (NIH). While the exact relationship between the ORAC value of a food and its health benefit has not been established, it is believed that foods higher on the ORAC scale will more effectively neutralize free radicals. According to the free-radical theory of aging, this will slow the oxidative processes and free radical damage that can contribute to age-related degeneration and disease.'
