Herbs can spice up your antioxidant protection.(Brief Article)

2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Ounce for ounce, many herbs used to flavor our foods have more antioxidant power than berries, fruits and vegetables, according to a recent Agricultural Research Service study.

Previous studies of animals and of human blood have shown that foods that score high in antioxidant capacity may protect cells and their components from oxidative damage. The thesis that oxidative damage culminates in many of the maladies of aging is well accepted in the health community.

Herbs are known to be good sources of antioxidants, but their potency can vary depending on species and growing conditions. So researchers at the ARS Fruit Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, evaluated a variety of fresh culinary and medicinal herbs grown under the same environmental conditions at the same location, the ARS National Arboretum in Washington, DC.

ARS plant physiologist Shiow Wang and visiting scientist Wei Zheng from the Institute of Environmental Science in Zhejing, China, put 27 culinary herbs and 12 medicinal herbs to the antioxidant test. Known as ORAC for short, the test measures the ability of a sample to disarm oxidizing compounds, which our bodies naturally generate as a byproduct of metabolism.

Three different types of oregano - Mexican, Italian and Greek mountain - scored highest in antioxidant ...