An antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation of other molecules.

Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals, which start chain reactions that damage cells. Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates, and inhibit other oxidation reactions by being oxidized themselves. As a result, antioxidants are often reducing agents such as thiols or polyphenols.

Antioxidant capacity is often expressed as the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC). It is a method of measuring antioxidant capacities of different foods. It was developed by the scientists at the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland.

Studies at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston suggest that consuming fruits and vegetables with a high ORAC value may help slow the aging process in both body and brain. Other research has shown that in middle-aged rats, foods with a high ORAC value can reduce loss of long-term memory and learning ability, maintain the ability of brain cells to respond to stimuli (thought to decrease with age) and protect blood vessels against oxygen damage. The assumption is that these high ORAC foods benefit people in much the same way. Most recently, Ronald Prior, PhD, and colleagues at the USDA reported on several small human clinical studies on high ORAC foods consumption with positive results. The generally accepted recommendation from many doctors is a daily consumption of at least 5500 ORAC units. Many spices such as cumin, cloves, cinnamon, basil, curry, and others have very high antioxidant content (over 300,000 per 100g), but are usually consumed in very small quantities.

Each Vindure 900 tablet has an ORAC of 19,638. 13036 of this comes from the 400mg of pure Trans-Resveratrol, 1090 from the Quercetin, and 5512 from the red wine grape extract.

Click here to see the Brunswick Laboratories analysis of Vindure 900.

Here's how Vindure's antioxidant capacity compares to other foods with high ORAC ratings (according to the USDA). Ratings are for a FDA standard serving size:

Enlarge