The Total ORAC Test

Dear Friends,

I’ve wrapped up four gifts for you in this newsletter—it is the Christmas season! Gift number four is in Green Facts so please don’t miss it! Here are my gifts to you:

Gift Number One

To really get into the Christmas spirit rent the DVD, A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart as Scrooge, made in 1999. We saw it last weekend, and it is truly fantastic. As you know, Charles Dickens wrote the novella in 1843. Our friend Keri recommended the movie to us since Dohrea has never seen it, and their book club is studying the book. The movie’s main focus is a warning to Scrooge and us that we wear the chains we’ve forged in life; that the common good should be our business; and, that if we change our actions now, the future can change.

I was struck at how the message of this Christmas story classic is pertinent for us today. The starving masses of 19th Century London are living with us today in the filth and squalor of cities all over our world—one billion of our neighbors are starving because of the too many numbed, unaware and/or overwhelmed hearts by the task of feeding the hungry. So gift No. 1 is to get you in the spirit of giving to those in need. To open it click on A Christmas Carol.

Gift Number Two

The second is to introduce you to Parker Palmer—an educator, philosopher, activist and another one of those friends of the soul, like John O’Donohue, to whom I introduced you two weeks ago—May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder. Your soul will resonate in what you will hear from Palmer’s interview with Bill Moyer—the Interview in Bill Moyers Journal.

Parker is the founder and senior partner of The Center for Courage and Renewal. Parker gives us a road map for real change. Something we can all learn and a place where we can learn it. He gives us the tools to create the grass root movement necessary to bring about a more equitable, holistic, compassionate world. Check out what he’s saying!!!

Gift Number Three

The Total ORAC Test

There are five major types of free radicals of concern to humans: peroxyl, superoxide anion, hydroxyl, singlet oxygen and peroxynitrite.

• Peroxyl Radicals are reactive oxygen species that targets lipids by taking their electrons, thereby damaging the cell. Highly unstable and readily reactive to molecular oxygen. Peroxyl radical are associated with cardiovascular diseases and atherosclerosis.
• Superoxide Anions are precursors of all other reactive oxygen species— sometimes referred to as the mother of free radicals. They are highly toxic and contribute to lipid and DNA damage. Antioxidants that scavenge superoxide anions also help prevent the formation of radicals such as hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl. Superoxide anions have been linked to hypertension and cardiovascular damage and mitochondrial diseases.
• Hydroxyl Radicals are the most reactive of the ROS and incapable of elimination by the body’s endogenous enzymes. They can damage virtually all types of macromolecules: carbohydrates, nucleic acids, lipids, and amino acids. Hydroxyl radicals are linked iwth DNA damage and cancer. In the skin, hydroxyl radicals are created by UV exposure.
• Singlet Oxygen Radical- In the skin, singlet oxygen is generated by UV radiation. Singlet oxygen is highly unstable and durable. They are linked to eye diseases (e.g. macular degeneration), cholesterol problems and cardiovscular diseases.
• Peroxynitrite Radicals are reactive nitrogen species that are particularly harmful to proteins. They have been implicated in the development of certain cancers, hepatitis, and chronic inflammation. In the skin, peroxynitrite contributes to the breakdown of vital proteins, such as collagen.

Efforts to identify the activity of antioxidants on all five types of free radicals discussed above have been constrained, however, by limited testing procedures. The ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity) assay, the industry standard assay, was developed to test the antioxidant capacity in foods. While valuable, the ORAC assay can only measure the peroxyl radical. Peroxyl radicals are lipid radicals. Extremely common and very reactive and therefore dangerous to organic molecules in the body. Its measurement is certainly significant but not the whole story of what we need to know. The original ORAC test thus presents an incomplete picture of precisely whether and how antioxidants defend against the full range of damaging free radicals.

Fortunately, technology moves along and a comprehensive new testing method called the Total ORAC assay has been developed. This new testing protocol measures antioxidant activity against not only the peroxyl radical, but all five of the major free radicals found in the body. The Total ORAC is composed of the following assays: ORAC for the peroxyl-targeted antioxidants, SORAC for the superoxide anion-targeted antioxidants, HORAC for the hydroxyl-targeted antioxidants, SOAC for the singlet-oxygen-targeted antioxidants and NORAC for the peroxynitrite-targeted antioxidants.

This is great news and next week we will delve into the Total ORAC scores on a variety of foods.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

The Therapeutic Foods Platform

The Therapeutic Foods perform as a foundational platform for health. The introductory combination that I have been suggesting of late is to regularly consume the following:

• Wild Blueberry Daily- 1 capsule a day
• Cruciferous Sprouts Complex- 1 teaspoon or 4 capsules a day
• Organic Chlorella- 4 to 6 tablets a day
• No. 7 Systemic Booster- 1 teaspoon a day.

With this combination you are adding to you diet the antioxidant/anti-inflammatory power of red pigment (pomegranate, cranberries, tart cherry, red radish), blue-purple pigment (blueberry), yellow pigment (pineapple), green pigment (chlorella, kale, watercress, daikon radish, broccoli, mustard), probiotics, fiber, and much more. It is an important start as your body receives the much needed ORAC protection (external and innate), improves the functions of many systems in the body such as the GI tract, cardiovascular, urogenital, osteoskeletal, and immune system. And of course it feeds the brain, and nervous system.

The Last Quiz Answer: This sleeping beauty is of course a Koala—called the sweatheart of Australia.

The Koala is the only member of the Phascolarctidae family. The Koala’s scientific name Phascolarctos cinereus means ‘ash-coloured pouched bear’.

Some people refer to the Koala as a Koala Bear. Although it looks like a small bear, the Koala is a marsupial mammal. Female marsupials have pouches to carry their babies. Other marsupials include kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, possums, and opossums. The Koala’s closest relative is the wombat.

Gift Number FourGift Number Four brings the hoped for future into the present. ECHO is a non-profit, inter-denomenational Christian organization located on a demonstration farm in North Fort Myers, Florida. ECHO exists for one major reason, to help those working internationally with the poor to be more effective, especially in the area of agriculture through teaching sustainable, localized, organic agriculture in the world’s poorest areas. ECHO teaches the very technology that is needed to right, not only the food system in the poorest parts of the world, but in the world as a whole—that is to eat locally and to eat organically. Give them a thorough checking out. I have it from a very good source that a visit to their Florida farm is a totally inspiring experience.