Antioxidants

Nutr J. 2010 Jan 22;9:3. (Just a big page; didn’t display fully)

The total antioxidant content of more than 3100 foods, beverages, spices, herbs and supplements used worldwide.

Carlsen MH, Halvorsen BL, Holte K, Bøhn SK, Dragland S, Sampson L, Willey C, Senoo H, Umezono Y, Sanada C, Barikmo I, Berhe N, Willett WC, Phillips KM, Jacobs DR Jr, Blomhoff R.

SourceDepartment of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: A plant-based diet protects against chronic oxidative stress-related diseases. Dietary plants contain variable chemical families and amounts of antioxidants. It has been hypothesized that plant antioxidants may contribute to the beneficial health effects of dietary plants. Our objective was to develop a comprehensive food database consisting of the total antioxidant content of typical foods as well as other dietary items such as traditional medicine plants, herbs and spices and dietary supplements. This database is intended for use in a wide range of nutritional research, from in vitro and cell and animal studies, to clinical trials and nutritional epidemiological studies.

METHODS: We procured samples from countries worldwide and assayed the samples for their total antioxidant content using a modified version of the FRAP assay. Results and sample information (such as country of origin, product and/or brand name) were registered for each individual food sample and constitute the Antioxidant Food Table.

RESULTS: The results demonstrate that there are several thousand-fold differences in antioxidant content of foods. Spices, herbs and supplements include the most antioxidant rich products in our study, some exceptionally high. Berries, fruits, nuts, chocolate, vegetables and products thereof constitute common foods and beverages with high antioxidant values.

CONCLUSIONS: This database is to our best knowledge the most comprehensive Antioxidant Food Database published and it shows that plant-based foods introduce significantly more antioxidants into human diet than non-plant foods. Because of the large variations observed between otherwise comparable food samples the study emphasizes the importance of using a comprehensive database combined with a detailed system for food registration in clinical and epidemiological studies. The present antioxidant database is therefore an essential research tool to further elucidate the potential health effects of phytochemical antioxidants in diet.

PMID:20096093[PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID:PMC2841576Free PMC Article

Table here, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2841576/table/T1/

Table 1

Statistical descriptives of the Antioxidant Food Table and individual categories.

Antioxidant content in mmol/100 g
nmeanmedianminmax25th percentile75th percentile90th percentile
Plant based foods a)194311.570.880.002897.110.274.1124.30
Animal based foods b)2110.180.100.001.000.050.210.46
Mixed foods c)8540.910.310.0018.520.140.681.50
         
Categories        
1 Berries and berry products1199.863.340.06261.531.906.3137.08
2 Beverages2838.300.600.001347.830.152.373.64
3 Breakfast cereals901.090.890.164.840.531.241.95
4 Chocolates and sweets804.932.330.0514.980.828.9813.23
5 Dairy products860.140.060.000.780.040.140.44
6 Desserts and cakes1340.450.200.004.100.090.521.04
7 Egg120.040.040.000.160.010.060.14
8 Fats and oils380.510.390.191.660.300.501.40
9 Fish and seafood320.110.080.030.650.070.120.21
10 Fruit and fruit juices2781.250.690.0355.520.311.212.36
11 Grains and grain products2270.340.180.003.310.060.380.73
12 Herbal/traditional plant medicine5991.7214.180.282897.115.6639.67120.18
13 Infant foods and beverages520.770.120.0218.520.060.431.17
14 Legumes690.480.270.001.970.120.781.18
15 Meat and meat products310.310.320.000.850.110.460.57
16 Miscellaneous ingredients, condiments440.770.150.0015.540.030.411.70
17 Mixed food entrees1890.190.160.030.730.110.230.38
18 Nuts and seeds904.570.760.0333.290.445.0815.83
19 Poultry and poultry products500.230.150.051.000.120.230.59
20 Snacks, biscuits660.580.610.001.170.360.770.97
21 Soups, sauces gravies, dressing2510.630.410.004.670.250.681.27
22 Spices and herbs42529.0211.300.08465.324.1635.2574.97
23 Vegetables and vegetable products3030.800.310.0048.070.170.681.50
24 Vitamin and dietary supplements13198.583.270.001052.440.6262.16316.93

a) Categories 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18, 22, 23

b) Categories 5, 7, 9, 15, 19

c) Categories 4, 6, 8, 13, 16, 17, 20, 21

Additional file 1

The Antioxidant Food Table, Carlsen et al. 2010. the main results of the present study; the table includes all the 3139 products with product descriptions, details and antioxidant analysis results, categorized into 24 categories and arranged alphabetically within each category.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2841576/bin/1475-2891-9-3-S1.PDF

J Nutr. 2002 Mar;132(3):461-71.

A systematic screening of total antioxidants in dietary plants.

Halvorsen BL, Holte K, Myhrstad MC, Barikmo I, Hvattum E, Remberg SF, Wold AB, Haffner K, Baugerød H, Andersen LF, Moskaug Ø, Jacobs DR Jr, Blomhoff R.

SourceInstitute for Nutrition Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway.

Abstract

A predominantly plant-based diet reduces the risk for development of several chronic diseases. It is often assumed that antioxidants contribute to this protection, but results from intervention trials with single antioxidants administered as supplements quite consistently do not support any benefit. Because dietary plants contain several hundred different antioxidants, it would be useful to know the total concentration of electron-donating antioxidants (i.e., reductants) in individual items. Such data might be useful in the identification of the most beneficial dietary plants. We have assessed systematically total antioxidants in a variety of dietary plants used worldwide, including various fruits, berries, vegetables, cereals, nuts and pulses. When possible, we analyzed three or more samples of dietary plants from three different geographic regions in the world. Total antioxidants was assessed by the reduction of Fe(3+) to Fe(2+) (i.e., the FRAP assay), which occurred rapidly with all reductants with half-reaction reduction potentials above that of Fe(3+)/Fe(2+). The values, therefore, expressed the corresponding concentration of electron-donating antioxidants. Our results demonstrated that there is more than a 1000-fold difference among total antioxidants in various dietary plants. Plants that contain most antioxidants included members of several families, such as Rosaceae (dog rose, sour cherry, blackberry, strawberry, raspberry), Empetraceae (crowberry), Ericaceae (blueberry), Grossulariaceae (black currant), Juglandaceae (walnut), Asteraceae (sunflower seed), Punicaceae (pomegranate) and Zingiberaceae (ginger). In a Norwegian diet, fruits, berries and cereals contributed 43.6%, 27.1% and 11.7%, respectively, of the total intake of plant antioxidants. Vegetables contributed only 8.9%. The systematic analysis presented here will facilitate research into the nutritional role of the combined effect of antioxidants in dietary plants.

PMID:11880572[PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE] Free full text

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