01.01.04
In study results recently published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Brunswick Laboratories developed and validated an ORAC method for lipophilic antioxidants in plasma or serum. This allows blood antioxidant capacity to be measured using both hydrophilic and lipophilic ORAC assays. In the study, subjects were given a serving of 189 grams of lowbush blueberries. Blood samples were obtained at one, two and four hours after consumption. Changes in plasma lipophilic and hydrophilic ORAC were measured against a fasting baseline. Plasma hydrophilic ORAC increased significantly 1 hour after the meal and declined below the baseline by 4 hours after the meal. Lipophilic ORAC increased significantly at 2 hours and remained above the baseline at 4 hours after the meal.