I am enjoying my first ‘dose’ mixed in a Strawberry protein shake. Yum!
I had a quick question though… On the label, it says that one serving has an ORAC value of 5000. Having read about antioxidants before buying Superfood (actually it’s the whole reason I ordered it - it’s expensive to ship to Hong Kong!), I realize that 5000 is not very high… It’s about the same as a single apple, or half a cup of blueberries.
I don’t want this to seem like a flame, I am just curious - if it’s “Super” why is the ORAC so low? I thought it would be easier/cheaper than eating 5000 “ORACs” per day, but if it only takes an apple or a handful of blueberries, that would be much easier.
But if there is some reason Superfood is better, I’m all ears.
An ORAC value of 500 is approximately equivalent to the antioxidant capacity of one serving of fruit or vegetable.
I don’t know where you got 5000 from.
[quote]lowlight wrote:
I am enjoying my first ‘dose’ mixed in a Strawberry protein shake. Yum!
I had a quick question though… On the label, it says that one serving has an ORAC value of 5000. Having read about antioxidants before buying Superfood (actually it’s the whole reason I ordered it - it’s expensive to ship to Hong Kong!), I realize that 5000 is not very high… It’s about the same as a single apple, or half a cup of blueberries.
I don’t want this to seem like a flame, I am just curious - if it’s “Super” why is the ORAC so low? I thought it would be easier/cheaper than eating 5000 “ORACs” per day, but if it only takes an apple or a handful of blueberries, that would be much easier.
But if there is some reason Superfood is better, I’m all ears.[/quote]
With Superfood, you get a variety of different fruits and vegetables, along with their different micronutrients. Sure you could superconcentrate one particular food and get an ORAC vaule of 80 bajillion, but you wouldn’t have variety. Plus you can only take so much ORAC per serving, and after that there’s a sharp diminishing of returns.
[quote]redgladiator wrote:
An ORAC value of 500 is approximately equivalent to the antioxidant capacity of one serving of fruit or vegetable.
I don’t know where you got 5000 from.
[/quote]
Yeah, I was thinking something was off with his figures there
[quote]redgladiator wrote:
An ORAC value of 500 is approximately equivalent to the antioxidant capacity of one serving of fruit or vegetable.
I don’t know where you got 5000 from.
[/quote]
You can download the USDOA’s study here http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/12354500/Data/ORAC/ORAC07.pdf (PDF). The values have been converted to serving size here Oxygen radical absorbance capacity - Wikipedia .
The label says the “average” serving is 500, and Superfood has 5000. However, “average” really depends on the fruit or vegetable. You could look at things like Alfalfa seeds or Beet greens or Eggplants, and get very low ORAC values for each. But as soon as you start looking to things like berries, apples, and some beans, it’s easy to get 5000 in a serving, or even 10,000 and above. Hell, even 2g of cinnamon scores over 5000.
For me, Superfood still makes sense; a 2 month supply costs me $120 including shipping. A handful of blueberries would cost me about $155 if I eat them every day, and that is of course a less varied source of antioxidants. So I still feel good about my purchase, since I can use it to easily supplement my diet. However, it’s just interesting how things get worded on these labels 
BTW I have no idea why my level is still at 0… I actually received the package before I received notification that it was even shipped!
it sometimes takes a while for the system to update your orders to change status level
I think this was all explained in the articles and threads when the product was released if you want to look it up.
Summarizing: Sure, they could have just concentrated the one food with the highest ORAC rating and put it in a container. BUT, the balance of nutrients present in the variety of foods they chose is better for your health (and tastebuds).
Yeah I figured the variety would be good. I am going to cut the dosage in half to make it last longer, I can easily get the other “2500” from berries and apples (and cinnamon! yum!). It’s also great that I can get fresh mangosteens here, they rank very high!