So What the Heck is ORAC?

Ok this is what I found out about ORAC so far. The letters O, R, A, and C stand for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity. (...In English please?) Basically, ORAC is a way of measuring how many antioxidants are in a substance (I'll have to look into what antioxidants are exactly). ORAC is measured in units, and the higher the value, the greater the antioxidant power. Foods that have higher ORAC scores are more capable of helping us fight infectious diseases than foods with low ORAC scores. Let's break each word down to fully understand what it means. Oxygen is referring to the oxidation process.  An easy way to understand the oxidation process is to imagine rust attacking metal. When the rust starts to eat away at the metal, the metal begins to weaken and decay until it can no longer work. This is similar to what happens in your body when free radicals attack it. Organs, cells and other parts of the body can be weakened by oxidation, which ultimately leads to diseases such as cancer, skin disease, and heart diseases.  Radical is referring to the free radicals mentioned earlier that CAUSE the oxidation process. Absorbance means get rid of or kill, and Capacity means how well the food is able to do it. Put together, the ORAC score measures a substance's ability to stop the oxidation process by fighting free radicals.