Top 20 age-defying foods

Shape, March, 2005

Want to slow down the aging process? Eat more beans! That's the implication of the largest, most comprehensive look at the antioxidant content of commonly consumed foods, recently released by the USDA and published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Antioxidants protect cells from damage caused by free radicals (byproducts of everyday metabolism and exposure to toxic substances in the environment).

Over time, free radicals can significantly damage cells and lead to chronic diseases associated with aging. Antioxidants act as little vacuum cleaners, eliminating free radicals as they circulate throughout the body and preventing them from doing damage.

The USDA antioxidant database will help scientists correlate antioxidant consumption to disease prevention, according to Ronald Prior, Ph.D., lead author of the study. He hopes doctors may one day be able to tell us how many antioxidants to eat in order to prevent cancer, glaucoma and other ailments.

At left are the superstars and their rankings.--B.G.

1 Small red beans

2 Wild blueberries

3 Red kidney beans

4 Pinto beans

5 Commercial blueberries

6 Cranberries

7 Artichokes

8 Blackberries

9 Dried plums

10 Raspberries

11 Strawberries

12 Red Delicious apples

13 Granny Smith apples

14 Pecans

15 Sweet cherries

16 Black plums

17 Russet potatoes

18 Black beans

19 Plums

20 Gala apples