Fruits are components of any healthy diet. Their health benefits are, in part, due to the diverse chemicals in them. Many of these chemicals (phenols, flavonoids) have antioxidant capacity.
To help rank fruits based on their antioxidant capacity, researchers in Italy measured antioxidants in common fruits. They used three methods to measure the antioxidant level: FRAP, TRAP and TEAC. For the antioxidant measurement, they used water and lipid-soluble extracts from 1 KG fresh fruit samples.
The fruits with the highest antioxidant capaity are berries (blackberry, rasberry, redcurrant) followed by olives. Fruits like banana, watermelon and melons have low antioxidants.
Antioxidant Capacity of Fruits
| Antioxidant Source |
Antioxidant activity (estimated by three different methods)
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| FRAP (mmol Fe2+/Kg FW) | TRAP (mmol Trolox/Kg FW) | TEAC (mmol Trolox/ Kg FW) | |
| Apple (red Delicious) | 3.84 | 2.23 | 1.59 |
| Apple (yellow Golden) | 3.23 | 1.54 | 1.31 |
| Apricot | 4.02 | 2.29 | 1.44 |
| Banana | 2.28 | 1.05 | 0.64 |
| Blackberry | 51.53 | 21.01 | 20.24 |
| Blueberry | 18.61 | 9.30 | 7.43 |
| Cherry | 8.10 | 4.17 | 2.69 |
| Clementine | 8.88 | 2.74 | 3.10 |
| Fig | 5.82 | 2.06 | 2.47 |
| Grape (black) | 11.09 | 2.50 | 3.85 |
| Grape (white) | 3.25 | 1.59 | 2.48 |
| Grapefruit (yellow) | 10.20 | 4.04 | 3.05 |
| Kiwi fruit | 7.41 | 2.30 | 2.28 |
| Loquat | 2.70 | 1.73 | 0.75 |
| Melon (cantaloupe) | 5.73 | 0.95 | 1.20 |
| Melon (honeydew) | 2.27 | 1.12 | 0.65 |
| Olive (black) | 39.99 | 18.08 | 14.73 |
| Olive (green) | 24.59 | 14.64 | 10.43 |
| Orange | 20.50 | 5.65 | 8.74 |
| Peach (yellow) | 6.57 | 1.49 | 1.67 |
| Pear | 5.00 | 3.87 | 2.19 |
| Pineapple | 15.73 | 5.92 | 9.91 |
| Plum (red) | 12.79 | 8.09 | 5.11 |
| Prickly pear | 6.97 | 2.06 | 1.46 |
| Raspberry | 43.03 | 10.48 | 16.79 |
| Redcurrant | 44.86 | 12.14 | 14.05 |
| Strawberry (cultivated) | 22.74 | 8.56 | 10.94 |
| Strawberry (wild) | 28.00 | 10.34 | 11.34 |
| Tangerine | 9.60 | 2.76 | 4.16 |
| Watermelon | 1.13 | 0.46 | 0.69 |
FRAP = Ferric reducing antioxidant power; TRAP = total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter; TEAC = Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity. FW = Fresh weight.
Table adapted from: Nicoletta Pellegrini, Mauro Serafini, Barbara Colombi, Daniele Del Rio, Sara Salvatore, Marta Bianchi and Furio Brighenti. 2003. Total Antioxidant Capacity of Plant Foods, Beverages and Oils Consumed in Italy Assessed by Three Different In Vitro Assays. J. Nutr. 133:2812-2819.