Free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms that are like “vandals” who don’t have anything to do but cause trouble – that’s my unscientific explanation. Anti-oxidants search out these free radical atoms and bond with them, which keeps them happy and stops them from doing nasty things in our bodies.
The US and Australian food industries are now labelling the antioxidants in food with ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity). If you see an anti-oxidant count on a food label it is likely to be the ORAC count.
However, not all anti-oxidants are the same. The ORAC rating adds up the total volume of goodies, but there is much more to food than the total volume of anti-oxidant capability. It is the combination of a range of nutritional components that turns a food into a super food.
