Spices and herbs Sorted by antioxidant content, clove has the highest mean antioxidant value, followed by peppermint, allspice, cinnamon, oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary, saffron and estragon, all dried and ground, with mean values ranging from 44 to 277 mmol/100 g.
Our results show large variations both between as well as within each food category; all of the food categories contain products almost devoid of antioxidants (Table 1). Please refer to Additional file 1, the Antioxidant Food Table, for the FRAP results on all 3139 products analyzed. The categories "Spices and herbs", "Herbal/traditional plant medicine" and "Vitamin and dietary supplements" include the most antioxidant rich products analyzed in the study. The categories "Berries and berry products", "Fruit and fruit juices", "Nuts and seeds", "Breakfast Cereals", "Chocolate and sweets", "Beverages" and "Vegetables and vegetable products" include most of the common foods and beverages which have medium to high antioxidant values (Table 1). We find that plant-based foods are generally higher in antioxidant content than animal-based and mixed food products, with median antioxidant values of 0.88, 0.10 and 0.31 mmol/100 g, respectively (Table 1). Furthermore, the 75th percentile of plant-based foods is 4.11 mmol/100 g compared to 0.21 and 0.68 mmol/100 g for animal-based and mixed foods, respectively. The high mean value of plant-based foods is due to a minority of products with very high antioxidant values, found among the plant medicines, spices and herbs. In the following, summarized results from the 24 categories are presented.
Table 1 Statistical descriptives of the Antioxidant Food Table and individual categories. Full size table
Beverages
In the category "Beverages", 283 products were included, from coffee and tea to beer, wine and lemonades. Dry products like coffee beans and dried tea leaves and powders were also included. The highest antioxidant values in this category were found among the unprocessed tea leaves, tea powders and coffee beans. In Table 2 we present an excerpt of this category and of the analyses of fruit juices. Fifty-four different types of prepared coffee variants procured from 16 different manufacturers showed that the variation in coffees are large, ranging from a minimum of 0.89 mmol/100 g for one type of brewed coffee with milk to 16.33 mmol/100 g for one type of double espresso coffee, the highest antioxidant value of all prepared beverages analyzed in the present study. Other antioxidant rich beverages are red wine, which have a smaller variation of antioxidant content (1.78 to 3.66 mmol/100 g), pomegranate juice, prepared green tea (0.57 to 2.62 mmol/100 g), grape juice, prune juice and black tea (0.75 to 1.21 mmol/100 g) (Table 2). Beer, soft drinks and ginger ale contain the least antioxidants of the beverages in our study, with drinking water completely devoid of antioxidants.
Table 2 Excerpt of the analyses of beverages in the Antioxidant Food Table. Full size table
Breakfast cereals, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds
Most of the breakfast cereals have antioxidant content in the range of 0.5 to 2.25 mmol/100 g, while 4 single products are above this range. Among grains and grain products, buckwheat, millet and barley flours are the flours with the highest antioxidant values in our study (Table 3), while crisp bread and whole meal bread with fiber are the grain products containing most antioxidants. Beans and lentils have mean antioxidant values ranging from 0.1 to 1.97 mmol/100 g. Different types of rice have antioxidant values between 0.01 and 0.36 mmol/100 g.
Table 3 Excerpt of the analyses of nuts, legumes and grain products in the Antioxidant Food Table. Full size table
In the nuts and seeds category we analyzed 90 different products, with antioxidant contents varying from 0.03 mmol/100 g in poppy seeds to 33.3 mmol/100 g in walnuts, with pellicle and purchased with nut shell intact. Pecans with pellicle, sunflower seeds and chestnuts with pellicle, have mean antioxidant content in the range of 4.7 to 8.5 mmol/100 g (Table 3). Walnuts, chestnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts and almonds have higher values when analyzed with the pellicle intact compared to without pellicle.
Chocolate
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Various types of chocolate were analyzed, from milk chocolate to dark chocolate and baking cocoa. The variation of antioxidant content in chocolate ranged from 0.23 in white chocolate to 14.98 mmol/100 g in one individual dark chocolate sample. Mean antioxidant contents increased with increasing content of cocoa in the chocolate product (Pearson correlation r = 0.927, p < 0.001). Chocolate products with cocoa contents of 24-30%, 40-65% and 70-99% had mean antioxidant contents of 1.8, 7.2 and 10.9 mmol/100 g, respectively.
Dairy products, desserts and cakes, eggs, fats and oils
The dairy category included 86 products and the majority of these products were low in antioxidant content, in the range of 0.0 to 0.8 mmol/100 g. Dairy products with added berries or chocolate and cheeses like Brie, Gorgonzola and Roquefort are the most antioxidant rich products in this category.
One hundred and thirty four products are included in the category "Desserts and cakes". In the upper range of this category we find dog rose soup and chocolate cookies. Eggs are almost devoid of antioxidants with the highest antioxidant values found in egg yolk (0.16 mmol/100 g).
Margarine, butter, canola, corn and soybean oil are the highest ranking products in the "Fats and oils" category. Almost half of the fats and oils have antioxidant content between 0.4 and 1.7 mmol/100 g.
Berries, fruit and vegetables
In Table 4 we present an excerpt of the all the berries, fruits and vegetables analyzed. One hundred and nineteen berries and berry products were analyzed. The average antioxidant content of berries and berry products is relatively high with 25th and 75th percentiles being 1.90 to 6.31 mmol/100 g, respectively. There were 13 samples with especially high antioxidant capacity in this category, including dried amla (Indian gooseberry, 261.5 mmol/100 g), wild dried dog rose (Rosa canina) and products of dried dog rose with antioxidant contents in the range from 20.8 to 78.1 mmol/100 g. Dried wild bilberries (Vaccinum Myrtillus, native to Northern Europe), zereshk (red sour berries) from Iran and fresh dog rose (from Norway and Spain) have mean antioxidant contents of 48.3, 27.3 and 24.3 mmol/100 g, respectively. Other examples of antioxidant rich berries are fresh crowberries, bilberries, black currants, wild strawberries, blackberries, goji berries, sea buckthorn and cranberries. The least antioxidant rich berry products are some of the berry jams with mean values of approximately 0.5 mmol/100 g.
Table 4 Excerpt of the berries, fruit and vegetable analyses in the Antioxidant Food Table. Full size table
A total of 278 fruits and fruit products and 303 vegetables and vegetable products were included in the database. In the analyzed vegetables, antioxidant content varied from 0.0 mmol/100 g in blanched celery to 48.1 mmol/100 g in dried and crushed leaves of the African baobab tree. In fruits, procured in 8 different countries, the antioxidant content varies from 0.02 mmol/100 g for watermelon to 55.5 mmol/100 g in the yellow pith of Spanish pomegranate. Examples of antioxidant rich fruits and vegetables were dried apples, flour made of okra, artichokes, lemon skin, dried plums, dried apricots, curly kale, red and green chili and prunes (Table 4). Examples of fruit and vegetables in the medium antioxidant range were dried dates, dried mango, black and green olives, red cabbage, red beets, paprika, guava and plums.
Herbal/traditional plant medicine
This is the most antioxidant rich category in the present study and is also the category with largest variation between products. Half of the products have antioxidant values above the 90th percentile of the complete Antioxidant Food Table and the mean and median values are 91.7 and 14.2 mmol/100 g, respectively. The 59 products included originate from India, Japan, Mexico and Peru. Sangre de Grado (Dragon's Blood) from Peru has the highest antioxidant content of all the products in the database (2897.1 mmol/100 g). Other antioxidant rich products are Triphala, Amalaki and Arjuna from India and Goshuyu-tou, a traditional kampo medicine from Japan, with antioxidant values in the range of 132.6 to 706.3 mmol/100 g. Only four products in this category have values less than 2.0 mmol/100 g.
Infant food and beverages
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The category includes 52 products, including European, Scandinavian and American products. The variation in antioxidant content in dinner and dessert products for infants varies from 0.02 to 1.25 mmol/100 g. Interestingly, human breast milk (49 samples from Norwegian mothers) has a mean content of 2.0 mmol/100 g. In addition, the category includes two Norwegian dog rose products for infants with antioxidant contents of 6.7 and 18.5 mmol/100 g.
Spices and herbs
An excerpt of the 425 spices and herbs analyzed in our study are presented in Table 5. The study includes spices and herbs from 59 different manufacturers or countries. Twenty seven single products are in the range 100 to 465 mmol/100 g, but the variation is from 0.08 mmol/100 g in raw garlic paste procured in Japan, to 465 mmol/100 g in dried and ground clove purchased in Norway. Sorted by antioxidant content, clove has the highest mean antioxidant value, followed by peppermint, allspice, cinnamon, oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary, saffron and estragon, all dried and ground, with mean values ranging from 44 to 277 mmol/100 g. When analyzed in fresh samples compared to dried, oregano, rosemary and thyme have lower values, in the range of 2.2 to 5.6 mmol/100 g. This is also true for basil, chives, dill and parsley. In addition to common spices and culinary herbs, we have also analyzed other herbs, like birch leaves, wild marjoram and wood cranesbill among others. Details on all herbs can be found in Additional file 1, the Antioxidant Food Table.
Table 5 Excerpt of the spices and herbs analyzed in the Antioxidant Food Table. Full size table
Soups, sauces, gravies and dressings
In this broad category, we have analyzed 251 products and found that the products with highest antioxidant content are tomato based sauces, basil pesto, mustard paste, sun dried tomatoes and tomato paste/puree, in the range of 1.0 to 4.6 mmol/100 g.
Vitamin and dietary supplements
The category "Vitamin and dietary supplements" includes 131 commercially available vitamin and dietary supplement products from USA, Norway, Mexico and Japan of which many have high antioxidant scores. Among them are supplements containing anthocyanins, vitamin C, green tea powder and multivitamins and multi-antioxidant tablets.
Meat, poultry, fish and miscellaneous ingredients
The majority of the products in these categories were low in antioxidant content. Nevertheless, products like liver, bacon and some prepared chicken and beef products have antioxidant values between 0.5 and 1.0 mmol/100 g.
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