Researchers meet to create new standard for measuring antioxidants

Are the antioxidants in a bowl of blueberries stronger than those found in a plate of broccoli? Today, there's no real standard for measuring and describing the levels of antioxidants found in vitamins or foods, but researchers are working on a way to standardize both the measurements and the claims.

Overview:
- An international gathering of researchers from 19 countries has agreed for the first time to establish uniform measurement standards for antioxidants.

- The decision could ultimately produce more reliable data for consumers, who face misleading claims about the amount and effect of these disease-fighting compounds in their food, health and beauty products, the researchers say.

- The historic three-day meeting, the First International Congress on Antioxidant Methods, was held June 16-18 in Orlando, Fla.

- The 144 scientists and experts from industry, academia and government who attended the meeting discussed the latest claims in antioxidant research and identified methods used to make these claims.

- Finley estimates that there are currently between 25 and 100 different methods used to measure antioxidants.

Source: http://center.acs.org/applications/ccs/application/index.cfm?Press
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