All antioxidants are helpful and may reverse the bad effects of aging. But here’s what’s really interesting: antioxidants are not all created equal. Some are way more powerful and effective than others. This is why you must know about ORAC values.
ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity. Developed by Tufts University researchers for the Food and Drug Administration, ORAC is a reliable way to determine the antioxidant capacity in foods.
The higher the score, the more powerful the antioxidant. So, we want to eat ingredients with high ORAC scores and use skincare products made from high ORAC values. When we chose ingredients for the concentrated antioxidant serum, we studied ORAC values using the highest and most effective, not diluting them with cheap oils or fillers.
Many commonly used antioxidants in expensive skin serums don’t come close to the power of astaxanthin or high ORAC value herbs.
Astaxanthin has an ORAC score of 2,822,200. That means it’s hundreds of times more potent than wild blueberries, 293 times, according to nutritionist Maxine Sheils, who cites research showing that it is good for your muscles, skin, brain, heart, and even eyesight.
Astaxanthin has the second-highest ORAC value ever measured! Dragon blood is the highest recorded ORAC value, but using it is not environmentally friendly. Dragon blood comes from a tree that bleeds a sap that looks like blood!
Astaxanthin 2,822,200 ( Formulated in Concentrated Antioxidant serum)LINK
Cloves 290,283 ( Formulated in Concentrated Antioxidant serum ) LINK
Rosemary 165,280 (Formulated in all luxe lotions) LINK
Thyme 157,380( Formulated in 4-1 Cleanser) 
Vanilla Beans 122,400 ( Formulated in luxe lotion vanilla)
Acai berries 102,700
Wild blueberries 9,621
Over the years, with clever advertising and marketing, wild blueberries and acai berries have been touted as the king and Queen of the antioxidant world, but now you know they aren't because you know their ORAC value! If you want to check the ORAC value of foods and ingredients, Superfoodly keeps an updated and searchable database with these numbers.
What is oxidative stress and how do antioxidants help?
Oxidative stress is caused by molecules called free radicals. These are highly reactive chemicals that steal electrons from healthy molecules in your cells, making those molecules reactive as well.
We are exposed to free radicals all the time, from blue light from screens, stress, EMFs, UV, air pollution,[1] x-rays,[2] pesticides[3]—all sorts of things that we come into contact with daily.
Free radicals aren’t all bad. Oxidative stress is a natural process in our bodies, and our bodies know how to deal with it. So when we are exposed to free radicals from healthy things, like exercise, we will dispose of the free radicals naturally.
However, too much oxidative stress can overwhelm our system. The problem comes when we are exposed to too many free radicals from unhealthy sources. When this happens, the free radicals themselves start to break down our cells and harm our DNA.[4]
This overload of free radicals damages and ages every cell in your body, including the living cells in the deep layers of your skin. Connective tissue breaks down, discoloration occurs, skin texture changes and your skin cannot work efficiently to recover. To take care of your skin, you must take care of your cells.
Antioxidants are the antidote to oxidative stress
Antioxidants are the antidote to free radicals and oxidative stress, which is why I love them so much.[5] These chemicals—antioxidants—react with free radicals and neutralize them. They do this by giving them electrons without themselves becoming reactive. Kind of cool, huh?
Just as your body produces some free radicals, it also produces some antioxidants to control them. But with the overload of free radicals, most of us are being exposed to, we have to take in extra antioxidants and use them topically in the form of concentrated high ORAC value serums.
*The information on this website and the products on the website are not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or to affect any structure or function of the skin or body. Medical advice for skin or otherwise must be made in consultation with a healthcare provider.
