What is ORAC?

ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) is a measurement developed by scientists at Tufts University in Oklahoma under the direction of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. This higher the ORAC value, the more capable that food is of destroying free radicals, thus retarding the aging process and other diseases. The USDA recommends an intake of about 5,000 ORAC units a day to obtain optimum health benefits; unfortunately, the average person only receives about 20%-25% of this recommended allowance in his or her daily food consumption.

What are Free Radicals?

In your body, oxygen is necessary for most metabolic functions. In these specific processes, oxygen molecules give off one or more of their electrons, leaving them as electrically unbalanced oxygen atoms. They are essentially partial molecules, or known as free radicals. As free radicals, they desperately look around for their missing parts. This makes them frantic, hungry to grab a chunk of whatever tissue is available. Thus, they can cause disease by disrupting normal cellular function. This leads to unhealthy tissues and DNA, compromising our immune systems and can lead to cancer, accelerated aging, and a host other maladies.