If you’re not quite sure what antioxidants are, start here.
If you drink a cup of green tea every day to get your dose of antioxidants, you’re not alone. A study from the American Institute of Cancer Research found that one in six Americans drink at least one cup of green tea every day! Antioxidants are believed to help prevent heart disease and cancer — it’s great to see so many people making the effort to eat and drink responsibly!
Recently, the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) has been rating different foods — scoring the antioxidant power of different fruits and veggies. Green tea, the seeming antioxidant standard, gets a score of 2231. Believe it or not, you can get THREE TIMES as many antioxidants in one cup of blueberries! They top the USDA list with a score of 9019.
There are lots of fruits and vegetables and even nuts that have more antioxidant power than the old green tea standby.
- Blueberries (one cup): 9019
- Cranberries (one cup): 8983
- Raspberries (one cup): 6058
- Strawberries (one cup): 5938
- Red Delicious apple (one medium sized): 5900
- Red kidney beans (one half cup, cooked): 5569
- Pecans (one ounce): 5095
- Pinto beans (one half cup, cooked): 4983
- Black Plum (one medium sized): 4844
- Walnuts (one ounce): 3846
- Green-skinned pear (one medium sized): 3172
- Hazelnuts (one ounce): 2739
- Navel orange (one medium sized): 2540
- Red cabbage (one half cup, cooked): 2359
- Pistachio nuts (one ounce): 2267
- Green tea (one cup): 2231
The nice thing about picking fruits and veggies and nuts over plain old green tea is all the OTHER vitamins and nutrients that you get. It’s not easy to eat right every day when you’re running around like crazy… so combining your daily dose of antioxidants with some other wholesome food will help you manage your health and diet even more easily! And if you can’t find something on that long list to like… I guess you’re stuck with the green tea.