Judging by the studies coming out of the world’s nutrition labs over the past several years, about the only place you won’t find antioxidants these days is in a pack of Twinkies. From lime juice in your mojito to the chocolate in your pots de crème, these magic molecules that help guard your system against assault up at every course, from cocktail hour right through dessert.
And now, government scientists have released a list of the 20 foods (below) with the highest concentrations of these food phenoms, so you can compare apples to oranges – or in this case, pecans to berries.
To come up with the ranking, researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) extracted the antioxidants from 100 common foods using special solvents, and then ran them through a device that uses fluorescent light to monitor a chemical reaction that measures antioxidant activity. Researchers took the resulting numbers – what they call the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) – and compared them.
Even though research suggests that antioxidants can help prevent heart disease and certain cancers, as well as keep your eyes, mind, and immune system sharp, their importance hasn’t eclipsed other nutrients like vitamins and minerals, fiber, good fats, and such. By happy coincidence, though, many foods high in antioxidants (produce and nuts, especially) also rate high in these other areas. And it’s conceivable that there are even more antioxidant powerhouses yet to be discovered. But we aren’t betting on the Twinkies.
Top 20 – Consider this your shopping list of power foods based on their TAC per serving (1 piece fruit/potato, 1/2 cup beans/dried fruit, 1 cup berries/artichoke hearts, 1 ounce nuts).
