Submitted by: Thomas Pallone

Q: I have been surfing the internet for a good Greens drink. I notice that many claim to have an ORAC value that supplies essential antioxidants to maintain healthy aging, including your NewGreens...My question is, what the heck is ORAC?

A: Great question Thomas! In this day and age of internet marketing it seems everyone is making some kind of claim as to the heath benefits of a product. Lets consider the facts first:

Chronic Degenerative Diseases:

Contrary to most diseases that are infectious in origin, this condition is not one that plagues developing countries, but instead it affects mostly Western developed countries that spend trillions of dollars per year on health care but are ironically getting sicker and sicker. Clearly something is being overlooked. The concept of symptom management with pharmaceutical intervention is failing miserably. We have more medications than physicians can keep up with, yet statistically we are suffering from more and more chronic disease. It is time we considered an alternative plan.

We have all heard or read that 5-8 servings of fruits and vegetables per day will help prevent everything from acne to cancer, but less than 10% of the population actually does it. When the physiology as it was designed is broke down and examined, it becomes obvious that we are not made to live on refined grains, preservatives, and processed foods. Instead, what the body likes most is a variety of fruits, vegetables, high-quality proteins, and whole grains.

So, what is it about fruits and vegetables that make them so good for our bodies? Probably lots of things, but most relevant to this discussion is the antioxidant value. One of the key common denominators between all the chronic degenerative diseases is free radical damage. Consumption of antioxidants from fruits, vegetables, and berries helps to prevent and reduce this type of oxidative damage.

Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) is a unit value assigned by researchers to measure the antioxidant value of a given food. ORAC provides a superb and very applicable method of determining the overall antioxidant potency of foods. Foods with a high ORAC value are beneficial to the body by increasing plasma antioxidant levels, thereby protecting the cells and their components from damage by oxygen radicals.

There are a lot of products on the market that claim to be high in antioxidants and have a high ORAC value, but the proof is in the test. We need to have at least 3000 ORAC units per day to adequately saturate our tissues with antioxidants to reap the benefits of preventing free radical damage. To put that into perspective, one cup of broccoli yields an ORAC value of about 900 units.

One serving of NewGreens™ (10 g) yields an ORAC value of 4,680 units (or 46,800 units per 100 g)! We are very pleased to report this and we hope you enjoy the benefits. View our ORAC Lab Results HERE

Considering that NewGreens packs a whopping 46,800 total ORAC units per 100 G., it is no doubt the most powerful product of its kind! Take a look at the ORAC values below per serving (100 G. or 3.5 oz.) as determined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Sources:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/feb99/aging0299.htm
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/1999/990208.htm
http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/antioxidants
http://brunswicklabs.com/artman/uploads/jf0116606.pdf