Topics
Supplementary Info
New Antioxidant Superstars,
Sources Cited
S. Dragland, H. Senoo, K. Wake, K. Holte, & R. Blomhoff. Several culinary and medicinal herbs are important sources of dietary antioxidants. The Journal of Nutrition, 133(5):1286-1290, 2003.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) of Selected Foods—2007. November 2007.
Acknowledgements
Transcript
So, we should stuff our faces every day, but which are the healthiest plant foods to eat, though? In 1999, I told audiences that blueberries were the healthiest fruits, and kale was the healthiest vegetable, based on a study of 40 common fruits and veggies at my alma mater, Tufts med. But then in 2002 this article was published looking at 200 different plants and I told you that blueberries got their little blue butts kicked down to #7. No one had tested nuts before, the new reigning antioxidant champs with pomegranates nipping at their heals. But then this study got published in 2003 looking at herbs and spices and I had to revise yet again saying the healthiest thing (by weight at least) on this planet Earth, is not blueberries, not kale. Not nuts, but cloves… and oregano. forty times the antioxidant power of blueberries (on a weight-by-weight basis) and about a thousand times more than what most Americans eat. And the graph for cloves at this scale is on the roof of this building.
This was all five years ago though. What about goji berries and all these new exotic fruits out there. Well, the biggest study of its kind was published seven months ago, 300 plant foods were studied. And so, who are our new champions?
Once again, cloves #1, found to be the most antioxidant packed food substance on the planet, but this is on a weight by weight basis. You can eat a handful of nuts no problem, but a handful of cloves? So on a per serving basis, nuts actually have more antioxidants than cloves, since the serving size of nuts is an ounce, and the serving size of cloves is like a tiny pinch. So I’m going to rank the latest greatest findings by serving to make it more practical, in terms of helping you find ways to eat healthier on a day-to-day basis.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Dianne Moore.
To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org
Doctor's Note
Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out the other videos on antioxidants. Also, there are 1,449 other subjects covered in the rest of my videos--please feel free to explore them as well!
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