Raisins and oxidative damage prevention

[Guest guest]

I saw a short piece in Runner's World on an experiment in feeding

triathletes raisins to prevent oxidative DNA damage. It seems like a

well controlled experiment involving two groups of athletes who were

either given raisins or not during a competition. They then switched

the groups for the next competition. Results showed lower or no

oxidative damage to the athletes eating the raisins, compared to

those that did not. This link points to a different version of the

same story.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?T16821243

It doesn't say, but let's guess it was paid for by the raisin

grower's association or some such. We know that the ORAC level of

prunes is twice that for raisins, so they should work even better.

(See the files area for the file on " Top Antioxidant Foods " .)

So, if we can prevent oxidative damage during exercise, does that

remove our excuse for limiting physical activity in pursuit of

longevity? :-) (And yes, I know that it would still interfere with

pursuing the lowest possible calorie intake, so you don't need to

point that out.)

Next point which I hope they will research - would consuming raisins

or prunes at every meal (or sufficient ORAC levels) reduce oxidative

damage accompanying digestion of any food source? Sounds like an

experiment that could be done even more easily than running the

subjects through triathlons. But if we know it works in that case....

Iris