"antioxidant-rich foods" news and stories

A few days ago, our man Joe posted about the findings from a new study that singled out blackberries as having the highest concentration of antioxidants per 1 cup serving. In fact, blackberries were getting all kinds of love from the press. With all that attention, my guess is that there was a run on blackberries at the market.

But nobody seemed to notice that the abstract for the actual study also listed raspberries, pecans, and ground cloves as part of the top ten of the 1,000 foods that were tested. Hey! Why no love for the raspberry? If you're eating a bowl of blackberries for their antioxidants, it might be even more worthwhile to toss in some raspberries and pecans. As for the ground cloves...well, I'll leave that for Holiday baking.

In addition to simply having high concentration of antioxidants, raspberries' antioxidant capacity comes from ellagitannins, which are a family of anti-cancer compounds that almost exclusive to the raspberry. Beyond phytonutrients, raspberries also provide nutrition in the form of manganese and vitamin C.

That's right. Nobody puts rasp-baby in the corner.

According to the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, "drinking three or more cups of tea a day is as good for you as drinking plenty of water and may even have extra health benefits."

Though it's been touted to have antioxidant properties, there has still been a common belief that tea is dehydrating because of caffeine content. However, UK nutritionists have found that tea rehydrates as well as water. Dr. Carrie Ruxton, public health nutritionist, said that "even if you had a really, really strong cup of tea or coffee, which is quite hard to make, you would still have a net gain of fluid."

In fact, tea is healthier than water overall because while water simply replaces fluids, tea replaces fluids and provides flavonoids and other compounds that promote health: reduction of rick of heart attack, protection against cancer, strengthening of bones, and protection against tooth plaque and potentially tooth decay.

I wouldn't necessarily go replacing water with tea, but if you're drinking lots of soda or juices with high sugar-content, perhaps tea is a better option.

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