Every day, your body is exposed to free radicals. These are substances that damage your skin cells, and over time they can age you, kill your hair follicles and reduce your hair health. Some of the most common environmental factors around you, such as the sun’s UV rays and the air pollution you breath while driving to work, are common sources of free radicals that could be zapping your hair to death.
If you want to preserve your scalp health, protect your hair follicles and keep your hair looking its best, it’s important to minimize free radical damage.
One of the best ways to do this is through eating more antioxidants.
That’s where ORAC comes in. ORAC is a way to measure a food’s antioxidant activity and monitor how well that food does at minimizing and neutralizing free radicals. The higher the ORAC score, the better!
An ORAC score takes into account a food or vegetable’s weight. In other words, the ORAC score is based on equal measurements. Keep that in mind when reviewing the following ORAC scores. While cilantro is almost tied with blackberries, for example, it’s easy to eat a handful of berries while it might be difficult to eat the same amount of cilantro!
Top 10 Foods Ranked by ORAC Scores
Try adding one or two of these foods to your next meal to rejuvenate your scalp and hair from the inside out!
- Goji berries: 4,310 ORAC score
- Wild blueberries: 9,621 ORAC score
- Dark chocolate: 20,816 ORAC score
- Pecans: 17,940 ORAC score
- Artichoke (boiled): 9,416 ORAC score
- Elderberries: 14,697 ORAC score
- Kidney beans: 8,606 ORAC score
- Cranberries: 9,090 ORAC score
- Blackberries: 5,905 ORAC score
- Cilantro: 5,141 ORAC score
