The following statement by Dr. Richard Cutler, Director of the Anti-Aging Research Department of the National Institute of Health (NIH) Washington, D.C., got my attention: “The amount of antioxidants that you maintain in your body is directly proportional to how long you will live.”

What are antioxidants, and how do you get them? An excellent resource on antioxidants is Lester Packer and Carol Colman’s book The Antioxidant Miracle. Lester Packer is a cellular biologist who started studying antioxidants in the 1950s. He has published over 700 scientific papers and 70 books on antioxidants and health. Packer and Colman state:  “Antioxidants are a group of compounds that are produced by the body and that occur naturally in many foods. Antioxidants work together in the body to maintain our health and vigor well into the late decades of life. They do this by protecting us from damage caused by free radicals, which can injure healthy cells and tissues.” Packer’s famous quote says it all: “I am not talking about just adding years to our lives; I am talking about adding life to our years.”

Some antioxidants can be produced by the body, but others can only be obtained from our food. There are hundreds of antioxidants, but five are called “network antioxidants” and are critical to good health. Glutathione, Lipoic Acid, and Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) are produced by the body, but the level of these antioxidants decline as we age. Vitamin C and Vitamin E are not produced by the body and must be obtained through food.

Most sources today recommend that we consume anywhere from seven to thirteen servings of brightly colored fruits and vegetables every day.  Examples include leafy greens, such as kale and spinach, and other green vegetables such as broccoli and brussel sprouts.  Red and yellow vegetables include tomatoes, red bell peppers, carrots, and squash. Some examples of brightly colored fruits include berries, plums, and apricots.

We can also find rich antioxidant foods in some unexpected sources. A study of the antioxidant content of common foods published in the June 2004 edition of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry listed the 20 most antioxidant-rich foods as follows:

Given what has been explained earlier, the nutrient value of those fruits, vegetables, and beans is dependent upon the quality of the soil and the presence or absence of herbicides and insecticides.

How many of us consume seven to thirteen servings of high quality fruits and vegetables per day?  While live, organic food is the best source, supplementation is also available. When selecting a quality supplement, look for the following:

1.    Whole food source

2.    Organic source

3.     No preservatives

4.  High “ORAC” scale rating. ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity.