Dietitians often recommend green tea, red wine, nuts and fruits (especially berries) for their antioxidant boost! New research has discovered that many wholegrain breakfast cereals, and wholegrain snacks like popcorn and wholegrain crispbreads, have surprisingly large amounts of polyphenols, regarded as great antioxidants.
Researchers investigated the total polyphenol content of around 40 breakfast cereals and 20 snacks and found that wholegrain products have comparable antioxidants per gram to fruits and vegetables. The study revealed higher antioxidant levels than previous studies because the researchers analysed total polyphenol content rather than focusing on free antioxidants, which are not bound to sugar.
Ready to eat, cold breakfast cereals made with oats were found to have the highest antioxidants, followed by corn and wheat. Popcorn was at the top of the snack list, blitzing the competition with as much as five times as many antioxidants as the nearest rival.
Packed with vitamins, minerals and fibre along with polyphenols, scientific studies have found that regular consumption of wholegrain foods can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers and even help you to manage your weight. So jump on the wholegrain train!
Source: http://matrix.scranton.edu/news/articles/2009/08/Research-Antioxidents-Snack-Foods.shtml
- Try air popping your own corn kernels and use herbs to replace salt. Garlic powder, chilli powder, basil and oregano work well.
- Did you know plain popcorn, without added butter or sugar, contains around 4 times less saturated fat and 5 times more fibre than you average potato crisps? So choose low fat or homemade popcorn next time you feel like a snack.
- Popcorn is a wholegrain! One 20g serve of plain popcorn contains around 15g of wholegrains - that's 30% of your daily target intake for wholegrains! (as recommended by Go Grains Health & Nutrition).
