Essential Oil Antioxidant Capacity

Free radicals, and the damage they can do at the cellular level, have received a lot of attention in the last few years. The oxidative stress caused by free radicals – which are produced during normal metabolism and cell function, as well as from stress and pollutants in our air, water and food – is implicated in everything from aging and wrinkling of skin to DNA damage, diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Antioxidants offer powerful, effective protection for your body and cells against their oxidative stress, by blunting the damaging effects of free radicals.

The ORAC Scale on Antioxidant Capacity

USDA researchers at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, have developed a laboratory test to measure the oxygen radical absorption capacity of different foods and natural substances. Known as the ORAC scale, it is one of the most sensitive and reliable methods for measuring antioxidant capacity.

The first test of its kind, the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) scale measures both the time and degree of free-radical inhibition.

All antioxidant capacity measures are estimated by Ferric Reducing Power, and are expressed as micromole Trolox equivalent (TE) per 100 grams (µTE/100 g). The ORAC test is accurate to /- 5%.