Sebastian Freidank - 26. March 20

What are antioxidants? – Guayusa, the “ORAC” miracle!

I n this article you will learn what antioxidants are. You will be explained what the ORAC value is and why free radicals can be so dangerous. You will understand why it is important to avoid oxidative stress and how antioxidants can prevent or reduce the spread of free radicals in the body. Get ready for a whole load of antioxidant knowledge.
A separate article, " Antioxidant Effects of Guayusa, Yerba Mate, Green Tea - Orac Value " specifically addresses the antioxidant effect of the ingredients in Guayusa.

What does the ORAC value describe?

ORAC stands for "Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity" - loosely translated as the "ability to intercept oxygen radicals" . The ORAC value can be applied to both water-soluble and fat-soluble antioxidants and, unlike other methods (TEAC, FRAP), is more accurate because it measures a historical value and not a one-time value at a specific point in time. 1
The value is usually given in Trolox per 100g. Trolox is a vitamin E-like substance with a particularly high antioxidant effect. It is therefore used as a reference substance when determining the antioxidant capacity of food. 2

 

What are free radicals?

Free radicals are highly reactive broken molecular particles that contain oxygen or are themselves oxygen molecules. There is an unpaired electron at the breaking point. This unbound electron is able to expose our tissues to oxidative stress. It is destroyed by tearing an electron from a healthy molecule.
This reaction does not only take place once, but causes a chain reaction. Several free radicals combine with other molecules and in turn form new radicals.

When these changes in molecules affect our DNA, it can lead to cancer or other diseases. It is therefore important to keep the formation of free radicals as low as possible. Antioxidants help us with this. 3,4,5,6

What are antioxidants?

Antioxidants are compounds designed to protect our bodies from oxidative stress caused by free radicals.

They can interrupt the reaction chains of the radicals by taking up or giving up an electron and thus no further reaction can take place.
Antioxidants are naturally present in our food, provided it is not overly processed. There are therefore particularly many antioxidants in fruit, berries, vegetables, dark chocolate/cocoa beans, tea - and in guayusa.

Antioxidants include, for example, vitamin C, E, A, carotenoids, flavonoids, anthocyanins and trace elements. 7.8

Would you like to learn more about Guayusa?
Ingredients and effects of Guayusa

Is there too much antioxidants?

Basically, you should always keep the law "The dose makes the poison" in mind. However, an overdose with antioxidants is not known and a pro-oxidative effect with too much consumption cannot be confirmed, even if you may have read about it from time to time.

For the antioxidant vitamin C, however, very small amounts can have a pro-oxidative effect. It is only active as an antioxidant at higher concentrations of around 100 mg. 9

However, the minimum intake of vitamin C recommended by the German Society for Nutrition (DGE) is only between 20 mg per day for children and 155 mg per day for adult men. 10 Some nutritionists even recommend 200 mg to 2,000 mg per day.

Which foods have how many antioxidants?

To get a little sense of which foods are particularly rich in antioxidants, here is a list of foods. This list includes foods that are commonly consumed and give a good picture of an average diet.

The list is divided into main foods, snacks and drinks.

As you can see, there are a lot of antioxidants in fruits and legumes.

Antioxidant capacity of various foods (ORAC) 11,12

Antioxidant capacity of various foods (ORAC) 11,12

main food

snacks

beverages
broccoli 1352 µmol TE/100g dark chocolate 39900 µmol TE/100g Guayusa 127,000 µmol TE/100g
potatoes 1098 µmol TE/100g banana 879 µmol TE/100g green tea 62,000 µmol TE/100g
beans 9459 µmol TE/100g Apple 2670 µmol TE/100g Coffee 8,000 µmol TE/100g
tomato 694 µmol TE/100g mango 1002 µmol TE/100g Apple juice 6681 µmol TE/100g
cabbage 508 µmol TE/100g hazelnuts 9645 µmol TE/100g orange juice 726 µmol TE/100g
carrots 666 µmol TE/100g cherries 3365 µmol TE/100g pomegranate juice 1788 µmol TE/100g
onions 863 µmol TE/100g dates 3895 µmol TE/100g lemon juice 1225 µmol TE/100g
spinach 1515 µmol TE/100g kiwi 882 µmol TE/100g grape seed flour 100,000 µmol TE/100g
olives 684 µmol TE/100g

Dark chocolate is far ahead, only beaten by green tea and guayusa. With over 127,000 µmol TE/100g, Guayusa is one of the foods with the highest ORAC values .

Conclusion

A morning Guayusa fills your cells with antioxidants right at the start of the day. These can protect your cells throughout the day. Of course, this can't make up for an unhealthy diet or work wonders, but antioxidants do support cellular health. The fact that guayusa has more antioxidants than green tea and even more than grape seed flour and dark chocolate is impressive.

Curious about Guayusa?

100% Guayusa tea without additives from GUYA - you can find it here in our shop. Are you curious? Then try it! And secure your package now - from ecological cultivation!


Sources:
1. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_Radical_Absorbance_Capacity
2. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/6-Hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carbons%C3%A4ure
3. http://www.gesundheits-lexikon.com/Orthomolecular-Medizin-Vitalstoff-Medizin/Oxidativer-Stress-Freie-Radikale/Was- sind-Freie-Radikale-.html
4. Knasmüller S (ed.). cancer and nutrition. 2014, Thieme, Stuttgart
5. World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective. Washington, DC: AICR, 2007
6. http://flexikon.doccheck.com/de/Freie_Radikale
7. http://flexikon.doccheck.com/de/Antioxidans
8. https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/56943/Pardau_Antioxidants_2016.pdf
9. Bast, Aalt, Haenen, Guido RMM, "Ten misconceptions about antioxidants", Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, Volume 34, Issue 8, pp. 430-436, here in full: http://download.cell.com/trends /pharmacological-sciences/pdf/PIIS0165614713000989.pdf
10. http://www.dge.de/index.php?id=354
11. Guayusa (Ilex guayusa L.) new tea: phenolic and carotenoid composition and antioxidant capacity
12. http://orac-info-portal.de/

Guayusa tea

Organic Guayusa from GUYA is original Guayusa from Ecuador. You can order our Guayusa directly from our shop and have it delivered to your home.

GUYA is Europe's first and largest Guayusa brand that offers you a large selection of Guayusa products. Our versatile Guayusa blends bring variety to your everyday life, keep you awake, focused and relaxed at the same time.

Since 2016 we have been working directly with farmers from Ecuador without intermediaries and have learned a lot about the processing of guayusa.

We look forward to your Guayusa order. 

Powder Guayusa

Buy pure guayusa tea powder. Our Guayusa powder offers you a variety of preparations without losing the organic quality.

Our PURE Guayusa Powder is original Guayusa, but particularly finely sieved to extract the powder particles . You can use the Guayusa powder in preparation of  a latte, cappuccino, espresso or for smoothies and pastries.

With the use of our Dripper , Guayusa powder can easily be used to prepare tea. The dripper's has a double-walled sieve that prevents the powder particles from getting into your tea. This way you can enjoy a delicious Guayusa tea without tea leaves in the water.

Bundles

The Guayusa sets contain all our Guayusa tea flavours  as well as our tea accessories.Purchasing Guayusa in Sets is a best way to save money because  the Guayusa is in cheaper price in Sets than when sold as an individual product.

Our Guayusa comes from Ecuador and is organically grown there and traded fairly by us.

Each Guayusa set is put together differently and offers you a cheap alternative to expensive individual orders. Choose from sets with a teapot, tea glass, thermos flask, tea strainer and our 7 Guayusa varieties.

Essentials

Our high-quality tea accessories made from stainless steel and special borosilicate glass have a long service life and can withstand all temperatures unconditionally! Find the right tea accessory for you in our online shop!

The glass products, as well as our stainless steel tea strainers, are suitable for any loose tea. All products can easily be cleaned in the dishwasher or under running water.

You can buy our products individually or in a combined package at a lower price.

Our tea accessories online shop also offers you a large selection of Guayusa tea which all together, as a set, make   an excellent gift.

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