ARS | Publication request: USDA Database for the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) of selected Foods

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: December 18, 2007
Publication Date: November 1, 2007
Citation: Bhagwat, S.A., Haytowitz, D.B., Holden, J.M. 2007. Usda database for the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (orac) of selected foods. WCRF/AICR Cancer Prevention Conference, November 1-2, 2007, Chicago, IL.

Technical Abstract: Oxidative stress is believed to be one of the factors which play a role in the development of many chronic and degenerative diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and neuronal degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Oxidative stress has also been implicated in the process of aging. Fruits, nuts, and vegetables are good sources of antioxidants. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) values are affected by a wide array of effects, such as cultivar, growing conditions, harvesting, food processing and preparation, sampling, and analytical procedures. The Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL), ARS\USDA has developed a database on the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) and total phenolic compounds (TP) of 275 selected foods. Samples for most of the foods in the database were procured through the USDA’s National Food and Nutrient Analysis Program (NFNAP) and were analyzed by Wu et al. by the ORAC assay. In addition to the ORAC assay, some other measures of TAC include the ferric ion reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) and trolox equivalence antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assays. These assays are based on other underlying mechanisms using different radical or oxidant sources and therefore generate different values that cannot be compared directly. Many of the same NFNAP food samples for which ORAC values were obtained were also measured by FRAP by Halvorsen et al. As a result, approximately 70 foods that were analyzed by both ORAC and FRAP assays eliminate the major sources of variation mentioned above except analytical method. Comparison of ranking order of some selected foods from these 70 foods measured by the two different assays will be presented.