Antioxidant-Rich Foods with Every Meal

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To stay out of oxidative debt, we need to take in more antioxidants than we use up.

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Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

“The postprandial state is a pro-oxidant state”—meaning that after each meal, free radicals are produced as our body assimilates the food. So, we can’t just have a bowl of berries in the morning to meet our minimum daily antioxidant needs, and call it a day. “[E]ach and every meal” should contain high-antioxidant foods, which, if you remember, means plants. “[A]ntioxidant-rich foods originate from the plant kingdom.” This is due to the thousands of natural antioxidant compounds found naturally in plant foods.

For example, “consuming…fruits,” which are high in phenolic phytonutrients, increases the antioxidant capacity of the blood. And, when they are consumed with the Standard American Diet, high-fat and refined carbohydrate “pro-oxidant and pro-inflammatory” meals, they may help counterbalance their negative effects. “Given the content and availability of fat and sugars in the Western diet, regular consumption of phenolic-rich foods, particularly in conjunction with meals, appears to be a prudent strategy to maintain oxidative balance and health.”

And of all fruits, berries may be the best source. So, for example, here’s the spike in oxidation caused by a Mediterranean meal of pasta, tomato sauce, olive oil, and fried fish. Obviously, not enough tomatoes. Add a glass of red wine, which contains berry phytonutrients from grapes, and we can bring down the level of oxidation, but not blunt it completely. So, the meal needs even more plants.

In this study, they gave people standard breakfast items, resulting in lots of oxidized cholesterol in their bloodstream one, two, three, four, five, six hours after the meal. But, all it took was a cup of strawberries with that same breakfast to at least keep the meal from contributing to further oxidation. Note, though, without the strawberries, look where we’d be at lunchtime. Let’s say we ate a standard American breakfast at 6 am, then 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, noon. If we didn’t eat that cup of strawberries with breakfast, by the time lunch rolls around, we’d already be starting out in a hyper-oxidized state and could just make things worse. “Since western eating patterns include eating multiple meals a day, including snacks, one can only speculate on the level of biological unrest.”

But, at least if we had some berries for breakfast, we’d be starting out at baseline for lunch. “This acute protection is likely due to the antioxidant effects of the strawberry phytonutrients.”

Even better than baseline, how about our meal actually improving our antioxidant status? Here’s measuring the antioxidant level of one’s bloodstream after a crappy meal. It drops, using up our antioxidant stores. But, eat a big bunch of red grapes with the meal, and the antioxidant level of our bloodstream goes up, such that our body is in a positive antioxidant balance for a few hours. Same thing after enough blueberries. And, imagine if these ensuing hours between our next meal, right, we were sipping green tea, or hibiscus? We’d have this nice antioxidant surplus all day long.

What, according to the researchers, are the practical implications? “These data provide an interesting perspective for advising individuals on food choices when consuming a moderate- to high-fat meal is unavoidable.” Unavoidable? So, if we’re like locked in a fast food joint, or something? Well, then they suggest chasing whatever we’re forced to eat with some berries. Reminds me of those studies on smokers I talked about, suggesting those who smoke should eat lots of kale and broccoli to reduce the oxidative damage to their DNA—or, they could just not smoke.

“In a single day, the systemic stress of [all that fat in our blood] and redox imbalance [being in a mild pro-oxidant state after meals] may seem trivial. Over time, however, these daily insults can lead to complicated atherosclerosis,” contributing to hundreds of thousands of deaths a year.

Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

Images thanks to Buckeye Impressions / Tim Tonjes via flickr. Thanks to Ellen Reid for her image-finding expertise, and Jeff Thomas for his Keynote help.

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

“The postprandial state is a pro-oxidant state”—meaning that after each meal, free radicals are produced as our body assimilates the food. So, we can’t just have a bowl of berries in the morning to meet our minimum daily antioxidant needs, and call it a day. “[E]ach and every meal” should contain high-antioxidant foods, which, if you remember, means plants. “[A]ntioxidant-rich foods originate from the plant kingdom.” This is due to the thousands of natural antioxidant compounds found naturally in plant foods.

For example, “consuming…fruits,” which are high in phenolic phytonutrients, increases the antioxidant capacity of the blood. And, when they are consumed with the Standard American Diet, high-fat and refined carbohydrate “pro-oxidant and pro-inflammatory” meals, they may help counterbalance their negative effects. “Given the content and availability of fat and sugars in the Western diet, regular consumption of phenolic-rich foods, particularly in conjunction with meals, appears to be a prudent strategy to maintain oxidative balance and health.”

And of all fruits, berries may be the best source. So, for example, here’s the spike in oxidation caused by a Mediterranean meal of pasta, tomato sauce, olive oil, and fried fish. Obviously, not enough tomatoes. Add a glass of red wine, which contains berry phytonutrients from grapes, and we can bring down the level of oxidation, but not blunt it completely. So, the meal needs even more plants.

In this study, they gave people standard breakfast items, resulting in lots of oxidized cholesterol in their bloodstream one, two, three, four, five, six hours after the meal. But, all it took was a cup of strawberries with that same breakfast to at least keep the meal from contributing to further oxidation. Note, though, without the strawberries, look where we’d be at lunchtime. Let’s say we ate a standard American breakfast at 6 am, then 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, noon. If we didn’t eat that cup of strawberries with breakfast, by the time lunch rolls around, we’d already be starting out in a hyper-oxidized state and could just make things worse. “Since western eating patterns include eating multiple meals a day, including snacks, one can only speculate on the level of biological unrest.”

But, at least if we had some berries for breakfast, we’d be starting out at baseline for lunch. “This acute protection is likely due to the antioxidant effects of the strawberry phytonutrients.”

Even better than baseline, how about our meal actually improving our antioxidant status? Here’s measuring the antioxidant level of one’s bloodstream after a crappy meal. It drops, using up our antioxidant stores. But, eat a big bunch of red grapes with the meal, and the antioxidant level of our bloodstream goes up, such that our body is in a positive antioxidant balance for a few hours. Same thing after enough blueberries. And, imagine if these ensuing hours between our next meal, right, we were sipping green tea, or hibiscus? We’d have this nice antioxidant surplus all day long.

What, according to the researchers, are the practical implications? “These data provide an interesting perspective for advising individuals on food choices when consuming a moderate- to high-fat meal is unavoidable.” Unavoidable? So, if we’re like locked in a fast food joint, or something? Well, then they suggest chasing whatever we’re forced to eat with some berries. Reminds me of those studies on smokers I talked about, suggesting those who smoke should eat lots of kale and broccoli to reduce the oxidative damage to their DNA—or, they could just not smoke.

“In a single day, the systemic stress of [all that fat in our blood] and redox imbalance [being in a mild pro-oxidant state after meals] may seem trivial. Over time, however, these daily insults can lead to complicated atherosclerosis,” contributing to hundreds of thousands of deaths a year.

Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

Images thanks to Buckeye Impressions / Tim Tonjes via flickr. Thanks to Ellen Reid for her image-finding expertise, and Jeff Thomas for his Keynote help.

Doctor's Note

Here’s that kale video: Smoking vs. Kale Juice. You can also get DNA Protection from Broccoli.

What do antioxidants have to do with heart disease? See The Power of NO.

I strive to eat berries every day, and so should everyone else. See Best Berries for the best fresh, and Better than Goji Berries for the best dried. If you’re still not convinced, check out the amazing findings in Strawberries vs. Esophageal Cancer and Black Raspberries vs. Oral Cancer.

Instead of hibiscus, you can sip whole cranberries. See Pink Juice with Green Foam. If you are going to do wine, red is preferable (Breast Cancer Risk: Red Wine vs. White Wine).

This is the third of a three-part video series on practical tips to achieve optimum “redox” (free radical vs. antioxidant) balance. In Minimum Recommended Daily Allowance of Antioxidants, I tried to explain the why and how much, and in How to Reach the Antioxidant “RDA” I got into the nitty gritty of meal planning, and described how just reaching the minimum may not be sufficient.

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