In their 2003 book Phenolics in Food and Nutraceuticals, Naczk and Shahidi describe onions as the vegetable highest in flavonoids (though the field of antioxidant research grows by the year) and specifically a flavonol compound quercetin.

Onions are rich in flavonoids and serve as one of the major sources of flavonols such as quercetin, isorhamnetin, myricetin and kaempferol conjugates in the diet. Of these, quercetin is the major flavonol in onions. Levels of quercetin glucosides are much higher in onions than those in other vegetables.

We love onions. I hope you do too because we recommend that you eat a mountain of them. When you’re done with the mountain, throw some more onions in the pan, cook them up, and eat some more.

One onion-buying (or onion-harvesting) factoid is that smaller is better. The flavonoids in the onion are more concentrated in a smaller onion, making them more rich in flavonoids, bite per bite (Lee et al. 2008). You might find small onions at a discount because no one else wants them. Buy them and run!

Consider too that cooking may reduce the flavonoids. In a 2008 study of onion flavonoids, researchers found that the flavonoid content in the onion was reduced: frying by 33%; sauteing by 21%, boiling by 14-20%, steaming by 14%, microwaving by 4%, and baking showed no loss (Lee et al. 2008). To some degree, the flavonoids may end up in the cooking water or oil.

For my part, I do not worry about the cooking loss in onions: I can eat about thirty times more onion cooked than raw and, as a result, cooking wins fairly readily.

Eat onions. Eat them often. Eat them how you like them.

ORAC Value of Onions

This portion of the Traditional Foods site is structured around the ORAC value of foods, so I present them to you for onion, although you know that it is one specific component (the flavonoid content) that makes onion shine. The antioxidant level of onions listed in the graph below is the “oxygen radical absorbancy capacity” (ORAC value) for onions — an indicator of the ability of onions to combat pre-cancerous cells. The ORAC value for onions is based on 100 grams — just under one cup of onions. The ORAC value has been collected by the USDA from scientific research on antioxidant in foods.

Onions contains 913 micromoles/litre of Trolox equivalents per 100 grams, the total ORAC value of Onions.

• The H-ORAC value for onions is 900.
• The L-ORAC value for onions is 12.
• The total phenolic content of onions is 23 mg GAE/100 g.

The food tested for the particular graph below can be described more specifically as:

Onions, raw

Read more about antioxidant foods at the Traditional Foods website.

Citations

Seung Un Lee, Jong Ha Lee, Suk Hyun Choi, Jin Shik Lee, Mayumi Ohnisi-Kameyama, Nobuyuki Kozukue, Carol E. Levin, and Mendel Friedman, 2008. “Flavonoid Content in Fresh, Home-Processed, and Light-Exposed Onions and in Dehydrated Commercial Onion Products” J. Agric. Food Chem., 2008, 56 (18), 8541-8548. (Here.)
Marian Naczk and Fereidoon Shahidi, 2003. Phenolics in Food and Nutraceuticals. CRC Press 2003. (Here.)

Beyond The Abhorrent-Tasting Green Drinks

For an antioxidant supplement, we do take a green powder with chlorella and spirulina at its base, both with a high ORAC value and also associated with helping your body expel radioactive materials, just as a bonus. If you have ever tasted chlorella or spirulina you may have already stopped reading because you will know from experience that there are few powders quite as nasty-tasting as these. My own mother used to encourage make me take spirulina. I remember gagging.

Mom had the right idea because spirulina is a powerful supplement but if you sputter and then gag as you are taking it, your supplementation plan is not sustainable.

On one memorable occasion, my mother sent spirulina with me when I was traveling to Poland. She was horrified later that I had thrown it away early in the trip. “Starving children in Africa could have used that spirulina!” (Mom suggests that is not a direct quote.)

It really is an open question whether starving children would drink a plain spirulina drink.

Times have changed. With the expanding market for antioxidant supplements, companies have gotten creative and made these powders actually palatable. The video at right shows my son actually drinking one of them. (Find this tasty one here.)

“Green” is the word in antioxidant supplements and you will find many products that fit the green bill, not all will fit the “palatable” category. This is the product in the video.

“Diversity” is the other keyword in the world of antioxidant supplements. Just like our best strategy in eating vegetables and fruit is to eat abundant amounts of these fresh foods in as much variety as we can manage, it is also a good strategy to have two or three antioxidant supplements in rotation, taking them every other day (every third day) or rotating throughout the day depending on your health needs and your budget.

These are some other antioxidant supplements that we like because they come from entirely different food sources than our core green antioxidant supplement:

Astaxanthin as an Antioxidant Supplement

This supplement is actually fed to flamingos in captivity — it is the part of the traditional flamingo diet that makes the feathers pink. Without astaxanthin in their diets, flamingos have white feathers. It is the same substance that makes salmon the deep rich orange color found in some salmon species.

Astaxanthin is a carotenoid, the substance associated with making your orange bell peppers orange, your beets red, and your flamingos pink. However, it may be the most powerful carotenoid antioxidant, more powerful than vitamin E or C. Find astaxanthin here.

Resveratrol as an Antioxidant Supplement

Dark grapes (and red wine) are high in antioxidants due primarily to their resveratrol content. Consumers are seeking out resveratrol because of its use as a complementary supplement for cancer prevention and cardiovascular health. When you can get fresh grapes, do enjoy them for their flavor and health benefits. We have abundant access to local grapes through the summer and fall. In places or seasons without great access, these resveratrol supplements concentrate the antioxidant portion of the grape for you. I realize this may be your main excuse to drink red wine and I certainly don’t want to take anything away from you here, but you can get far more antioxidant power in this supplement and you can avoid “drinking your carbs” at the same time. (I write that more for myself, being one prone to drinking my carbs because, of course, red wine is an antioxidant and all.) Check out a well-reviewed resveratrol product.

In rotation and in the context of an antioxidant-rich diet, these are our top picks to date for antioxidant supplements. By ordering through these links, you support this website (without paying more) and our own antioxidant-rich food budget.

Explore many other spices in our spice catalog below to discover how these popular flavorings are also contributing to the antioxidant value of your diet.

Catalog of Spice Antioxidants

The top tend list includes dried herbs but depending on the data we have available, some of the herbs in this list are fresh. The ORAC value is by weight (100 grams), so keep in mind that fresh herbs do contain more water content than dried herbs and will be lower in ORAC value simply by virtue of the water content. When comparing foods, it is always best to compare fresh foods with fresh foods and dry foods with dry foods.

Catalog of Herb Antioxidants

There are berries that would be on this top ten list, notably acai berry, but we do not have data for fresh, whole acai berry.

We should also note that processed fruit does contain antioxidants. Fresh is always best but frozen, cooked, powdered, and dried fruit will contribute to an antioxidant-rich diet.

Catalog of Fruit Antioxidants

Ginger and garlic top the list, crossing over the two categories of vegetable and spice. Each of these foods as benefits far beyond the ORAC value presented here and can be incorporated liberally and inexpensively into the diet. Lemon balm and cilantro cross into the “herb” category as well and are used primarily as seasonings, though clever cooks will use them as a core part of their recipes at times.

Catalog of Vegetable Antioxidants

Skin care regimens that rely on high antioxidant oils are your best bet. In this household, we use antioxidant oils in two ways for skin care: for skin cleansing and for skim moisturizing. In the videos below we describe each of these processes. These videos are reviews of coconut oil and, in particular, the coconut oil on the market with the highest antioxidant content. The coconut oil is a good skin care foundation, but there are oils with far higher levels of antioxidants than coconut oil. We find that a combination works best.

Antioxidants For Skin Cleansing

For the antioxidants, the cleansing value, and the extreme hydration, we use oils as facial cleansers. If you have never heard of this method, it may sound strange but I describe it in the video at right. The process is simple:

• Wet your face (usually in the shower).

• Cover face with cleansing oil.
• Massage oil into skin, massaging gently in an upward direction.
• Allow the oil to sit as you finish your shower regimen.
• At the end of the shower, wet a clean wash cloth and use the cloth to massage off any oil that has not been absorbed into your skin.

You will be amazed at how clean and moisturized your face actually feels with this cleansing process.
You can use any healthy oil, but we do use a high antioxidant blend. We start with a coconut oil base and add about 20% or more of other higher-end antioxidant oils we have available. (Coconut oil is liquid when it is over 75 degrees.) Diversity is the name of the game since all oils will bring different properties to the table. We currently like this marula oil and this blend of facial oils.

Antioxidant Oils For Skin Moisturizing

To moisturize our skin, we use moisturizing oils, again, with the coconut oil as the base oil. Coconut oil is a fairly “dry” oil which means it will be absorbed quickly. There are other oils that are even more dry (e.g. marula) and you may want to use those for your face if you need to apply makeup within five minutes or so. But for most faces and for the rest of your body, the oil combination approach may work best.

Here is our process:

• Wet skin in question.

• Apply oil.
• Gently massage the oil into the skin.

You will find skin oils to be far superior to just about any moisturizing lotion you can find. Your oil can provide antioxidants to your skin as well.

For our face, neck, and hands we do use a higher-quality blend of oils that we describe below. Legs and arms can absorb a lot of oil. We do tend to use only coconut oil in these areas for cost reasons. Higher-priced facial oils would be great as well if they fit your budget for this purpose.

Antioxidant Oil Combinations — Buying Combination Oils, Mixing Oils, or Rotating

When it comes to our moisturizing regimen, we take even more care in the oil we choose, providing our face, neck, and hands with more higher-antioxidant oils. We tend to use a blend of about 50% coconut oil/50% high antioxidant oil. We encourage you to explore different high-antioxidant oils and find what works for you. If you are buying on Amazon, we provide two links above to very good facial moisturizing options. These are easy to use and they are easy to grab right off Amazon.

However, if you are into experimentation and would like to make an oil blend for yourself based on your own needs, we refer you to an independently-operated supplier of herbs, spices, and their related oils. You will find many skin-suitable oils that may be exactly what you need:

Oils for Aging Skin

Antioxidants fight wrinkles and changes in skin texture that come with age. These are some high antioxidant skin oils:

• Pomegranate seed oil is one of the current most popular antioxidant oils for skin.

• Rosehip seed oil fights wrinkles and premature aging.

Oils For Damaged Skin

• Tamanu oil will help repair skin damaged due to scarring, stretchmarks, and minor cuts and abrasions.

• Sea Buckthorn Oil is also good for damaged skin.
• Macadamia oil is also great for skin repair and for treating sunburns.

Good General Skin Oils

• Jojoba oil is a great oil to use in oil blends because it is a highly-absorbed oil and may help you benefit even more from all of the oils in your blend.

• Sunflower oil is widely used to maintain healthy skin and can be a part of any oil blend for skin.

Sweet potato contains 2115 micromoles/litre of Trolox equivalents per 100 grams, the total ORAC value of sweet potato.

• The H-ORAC value for sweet potato is 2085.
• The L-ORAC value for sweet potato is 30.
• The total phenolic content of sweet potato is 233 mg GAE/100 g.

The food tested for the particular graph below can be described more specifically as:

Sweet potato, baked in skin

Read more about antioxidant foods at the Traditional Foods website.

Sweet orange peppers contains 984 micromoles/litre of Trolox equivalents per 100 grams, the total ORAC value of sweet orange peppers.

• The H-ORAC value for sweet orange peppers is 908.
• The L-ORAC value for sweet orange peppers is 76.
• The total phenolic content of sweet orange peppers is 543 mg GAE/100 g.

The food tested for the particular graph below can be described more specifically as:

Peppers, sweet, orange, raw

Read more about antioxidant foods at the Traditional Foods website.

Sweet green peppers contains 935 micromoles/litre of Trolox equivalents per 100 grams, the total ORAC value of sweet green peppers.

• The H-ORAC value for sweet green peppers is 921.
• The L-ORAC value for sweet green peppers is 14.
• The total phenolic content of sweet green peppers is 160 mg GAE/100 g.

The food tested for the particular graph below can be described more specifically as:

Peppers, sweet, green, raw

Read more about antioxidant foods at the Traditional Foods website.