The same visual clues lead humans to what's good for them. They help us identify a wide variety of delicious, nutritious foods. Score high on your ORACs Highly colored fruits and vegetables have amazing abilities to protect our health. Some of them, for example, may interfere with cholesterol synthesis and thus help protect our arteries. Research on plant pigments is underway at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, among many other institutions.
Studies suggest that high-ORAC foods boost the antioxidant power of human blood substantially.
If you want to boost your antioxidant levels with pigments and other phytochemicals, see the list of high-ORAC foods below. But favor the dark or vividly colored produce in the market. Unfortunately, even people who eat lots of fruits and vegetables may neglect the high-ORAC foods. Let's do it. Dark fruit jams and jellies, by the way, may retain small amounts of antioxidants, depending on how they were processed and stored, but don't rely on them.