Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Noni Fruit Leather: Convenient, Abundant Antioxidants

Scientists have known for years that, while our bodies require oxygen to function, too much oxygen in the body’s cells is a ticking time bomb. Experts recommend getting a high daily dosage of antioxidants, to combat this damage over time.
But why is oxygen so damaging to our body’s cells? Why do antioxidants help? And what’s the best way to ensure you get enough antioxidants to keep yourself youthful, healthy, and fit?
Noni fruit leather, a superfood supplement made from the raw pulp of one of nature’s most powerful foods for healing, is the convenient solution you’ve been looking for.

Oxidation and Aging

For certain chemicals, including many in our bodies, exposure to oxygen and certain other oxidizing agents causes a process called oxidation. This is the same process that causes rusting and which turns cut apples brown.
Oxidation is one of the most basic chemical processes, and it results in the oxidized substance losing electrons. In the human body, atoms and molecules that have lost an electron are called free radicals.

What’s the Harm in Free Radicals?

In your body’s cells, free radicals cause aging. That’s because when an atom or molecule loses an electron, it becomes extremely reactive, looking for an electron to replace the lost one. It will tend to steal an electron from another molecule, often causing a chain reaction, or other complications.
We call these atoms and molecules free radicals. Particularly in the case of molecules in the body like proteins, lipids, and mitochondrial DNA, these free radicals can cause cancer, as well as all kinds of other chronic diseases, like heart disease and Alzheimer''s.
Today, the Free Radical Theory of Aging is one of the most likely explanations we have for aging, as well as these chronic diseases that are still shortening our lives today, despite all our medical and scientific advancements.

What Creates Free Radicals?

Just living your day-to-day life creates free radicals, as you take in oxygen and thousands of tiny chemical reactions occur every second. But certain lifestyle choices can increase your free radical count and possibly speed up aging and increase risk of chronic disease.
  • Environmental toxins
  • Stress
  • Smoking
  • Poor diet
The more free radical risk-factors you have in your lifestyle, (and we all have some!) the more antioxidants you need to combat the damage.

The Role of Antioxidants

Antioxidants are believed to help combat free radicals by donating electrons to make the free radical less reactive, without forming another free radical or triggering a chain reaction.
For that reason, many experts and health professionals recommend a high daily dose of foods high in antioxidants, to keep numbers of free radicals in check. It’s believed that this might lower your risk of chronic disease, help you fight off chronic diseases, and allow you to age more gracefully.
Antioxidants include vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, and others. They can be found in many fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as in some other sources. In general, raw, whole plant foods are the best sources of antioxidants, but not all are created equal.

Measuring Antioxidant Levels

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have developed a way of measuring the antioxidant capacity of certain foods. They measure the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) of foods, which is just a fancy way of saying “how well a food can donate electrons to neutralize free radicals.”
For you, this means that eating foods with high ORAC values will help your body stay healthy, youthful, and fit! Eating foods with a high ORAC rating can also prevent the loss of long-term memory, preserve your brain’s ability to learn, protect blood vessels against oxygen damage, and prevent cancer and other chronic diseases.

How Many ORACs Do I Need?

US Department of Agriculture has determined that a person should consume at least 3,000 to 5,000 ORAC units per day, through foods and supplements. That’s quite a bit — about 14 apples, for scale!
It’s extremely important for everyone to find a daily source of antioxidants that’s simple and convenient enough to ensure you get your daily dose. Eating 14 apples per day isn’t practical, in terms of time, cost-effectiveness, or calories. So how can you get the antioxidants you need each day?

Noni Fruit Leather: Convenient, Abundant Antioxidants

Did you know that there’s a fruit out there that puts apples, blueberries, pomegranates, and acai berries to shame when it comes to antioxidants? It’s called noni fruit, and when the raw pulp of this unusual fruit is turned into Noni Fruit Leather, it’s more potent than apples by a 110x!
So why haven’t you heard of it?
When ORAC values were first being measured, and the idea of antioxidant “superfoods” came about, the only way that noni fruit was widely available was in the form of juice.
Noni juice doesn’t even begin to compare to Noni Fruit Leather in terms of potency, for two main reasons. First of all, to make noni juice, you have to completely ferment the noni, and then pasteurize it to create a stable product. Fermentation ruins the antioxidant levels of noni, and pasteurization finishes the job, changing the chemical composition of the fruit almost completely.
Second, noni juice is usually extremely diluted with water or sweetened juice. ORAC units go dramatically down when a food is diluted, for obvious reasons. They also rise dramatically when a fruit is dried or concentrated. So, for example, raisins have a higher ORAC rating per serving than grapes do.
Noni Fruit Leather is pure raw noni pulp, slow-dried at a temperature below 115 degrees. We do this to preserve all the beneficial compounds, including antioxidants, that can be found in the unprocessed fruit.
When we submitted a sample of our Noni Fruit Leather to UBE Analytical Laboratories in California, it scored 340,000 ORAC units per 100 grams, or 6,024 units per 2x2 inch square serving. We also sent a sample of commercial noni juice which scored 433 units per one ounce serving. Noni Fruit Leatherwas fourteen times as potent as noni juice.
As a reminder, the USDA recommends 3,000 as your minimum ORAC dose, so just one serving ofNoni Fruit Leather per day (that’s just a 2x2 inch square) carries you way beyond the minimum.
So, if you want a convenient way to get your daily dose of antioxidants, alongside countless other health benefits, give Noni Fruit Leather a try today!
What do you do to incorporate more antioxidants into your diet? Let me know in the comments!

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