What is an ORAC Value?
Many times on this website we refer to
products as containing a ORAC value, which is in actuality a
tricky little number to nail down...
First of all, you should know that ORAC,
which stands for "Oxygen Radical Absorbtion Capacity" is a
measurement of Antioxidents in the samples of a food
product. The reason you want a high ORAC value in
your food each day is because the
more antioxidents you eat, the better your body can
fight the aging process.
ORAC is a method of measurement
developed by the US National Institute of Aging, and they have
estimated that the modern human body needs approximately
6,000 units of Antioxident as measured with ORAC
daily, while the average American gets less than 1/8th
that amount with our typical fast-food lifestyles here.
This is why a small amount of Acai Berry
every day can make such a huge difference. Fresh
Acai berries have the highest ORAC value of any edible item we
know of on Earth, gram per gram. (Yes, there are apparently
some poisionus plants that go even higher!)
The number one factor in how a
sample of Acai scores in ORAC is how it is processed. A gram of
raw Acai Berry off the tree may have an ORAC value over
1,200 all by itself but by the time it arrives on your kitchen
counter in the US that number may likely be under 100!
The best known way to process Acai
berries to preserve their high ORAC score is by
flash-freezing them immediately after picking, and then while
frozen grinding them into a powder, seed and all. That
powder should retain the majority of the original
ORAC score.
This is why a Multi-Level Marketing
company by the name of Mona Vie is so famous. Not
only does Mona Vie claim to flash freeze and powder their Acai
for maximum ORAC, (they claim 1,027 ORAC per gram in every
bottle) but they also say that they transport some
frozen WET berries as well and re-combine them at their
bottleing plant in Utah using a patended process that no
one else is doing.
Their result? We cannot confirm this
scientifically, but they have test results pulished that show
the highest possible ORAC score and the most
nutrients preserved, (including the Omega fatty
oils lost to the drying-out process) over any other
product we've seen to date. If you can afford it, Mona
Vie would seem to be the most potent way to get
your Acai. (As well as 18 other fruit juices.)
Unfortunately, they do not publish the amount of Acai in each
bottle, so it is quite possible to get larger amounts of
acai in products at your local grocery store to make up
for the loss in potency by far.
|