Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) is a method of measuring antioxidant capacities in biological samples in vitro. A wide variety of foods has been tested using this method, with certain spices, berries and legumes rated highly. There exists no physiological proof in vivo that free-radical theory is valid. Consequently, the ORAC method, derived only in test tube experiments, cannot currently be interpreted as relevant to human diets or biology. The assay measures the oxidative degradation of the fluorescent molecule (either beta-phycoerythrin or fluorescein) after being mixed with free radical generators such as azo-initiator compounds.