The oxygen radical absorbance capacity, ORAC, is a test tube measure of a food's antioxidant state before ingestion. The method has been widely (and wildly) misused to infer antioxidant health benefits from consuming foods high in ORAC.
ORAC may have utility to food scientists as an index of polyphenol content in plant foods.
However, upon ingestion and following exposure to the enzyme and acid environment of the stomach, the polyphenol chemicals responsible for ORAC are altered (usually broken apart into newer, smaller compounds) and no longer have significant antioxidant value.
Further, the body sees these compounds as foreign and actively tries to get rid of them, indicating that ORAC measured in a test tube has no physiological meaning and no health benefit.
For a brief review of potential roles for ingested polyphenols from fruit, click here!
Supposedly the new ORAC 'king' as of 2007,
açaí ("ah-sigh-ee"; Euterpe oleracea Mart.) is
a polyphenol-rich Amazonian fruit hyped for its supposed health benefits,
none of which has been proved scientifically.
Everything you hear about açaí's dietary antioxidant strength is marketing hype.
Açaí's polyphenols likely have nothing to do with its possible nutritional value.
It is a micronutrient-dense plant food, click for a brief review!
Myth Buster
The Deception of ORAC for Açaí -- click!
Consider these facts for ORAC
- it only applies to measurements in a test tube
- it has never been applied to determine antioxidant strength in vivo
- it cannot be traced to plant phytochemicals (like polyphenols, flavonoids, or anthocyanins) after dietary intake in the human body
- the phytochemicals responsible for ORAC in vitro cannot be presently validated as nutrients essential for human health
- therefore, ORAC has no established relevance to the human condition
- if ORAC doesn't apply to human nutrition, why is it needed?
- all the marketing hype of high-ORAC foods and superfruit drinks are false and intentionally misleading to induce purchases by gullible consumers
The New Reality About Berry and Superfruit Polyphenols:
They are Not Physiological Antioxidants --
ORAC Has No Meaning In Vivo
