Per Harvard, single antioxidants, like vitamin E or beta carotene, have never lived up to the hype that they halt heart disease, cure cancer, eradicate eye disease, or prevent Alzheimer's. That shouldn't be surprising. The notion that antioxidants are good for you comes from studies showing that people who eat foods rich in antioxidants have better long-term health. Trials of single supplements, usually taken in pill form, have yielded disappointing results.
It's possible that single antioxidants haven't panned out because it takes a network of antioxidants "" like those that exist in foods "" to neutralize free radicals. If that's the case, then it would be helpful to determine the antioxidant content of various foods.
An international team of researchers did just that for more than a thousand foods that Americans commonly eat. Topping the list were blackberries, walnuts, strawberries, artichokes, cranberries, coffee, raspberries, pecans, blueberries, and ground cloves (see "Antioxidant-rich foods").
Antioxidant-rich foods Here are the three dozen foods with the highest per-serving content of antioxidants, per Harvard Health. |
|
Product |
Antioxidants mmol/serving |
Blackberries |
5.746 |
Walnuts |
3.721 |
Strawberries |
3.584 |
Artichokes, prepared |
3.559 |
Cranberries |
3.125 |
Coffee |
2.959 |
Raspberries |
2.870 |
Pecans |
2.741 |
Blueberries |
2.680 |
Cloves, ground |
2.637 |
Grape juice |
2.557 |
Chocolate, baking, unsweetened |
2.516 |
Cranberry juice |
2.474 |
Cherries, sour |
2.205 |
Wine, red |
2.199 |
Power Bar, chocolate flavor |
1.875 |
Pineapple juice |
1.859 |
Guava nectar |
1.858 |
Juice drinks, 10% juice, blueberry or strawberry flavor, vitamin-C enriched |
1.821 |
Cranapple juice |
1.790 |
Prunes |
1.715 |
Chocolate, dark, sugar-free |
1.675 |
Cabbage, red, cooked |
1.614 |
Orange juice |
1.510 |
Apple juice, with added vitamin C |
1.462 |
Mango nectar |
1.281 |
Pineapples |
1.276 |
Oranges |
1.261 |
Bran Flakes breakfast cereal |
1.244 |
Plums, black |
1.205 |
Pinto beans, dried |
1.137 |
Canned chili with meat and beans |
1.049 |
Canned chili with meat, no beans |
1.045 |
Spinach, frozen |
1.040 |
Whole Grain Total breakfast cereal |
1.024 |
Chocolate, sugar-free |
1.001 |
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