Is antioxidant plasma status in humans a consequence of the antioxidant food content influence

antioxidant activity and bioactivity than the conventional foods. The results could be used in public health campaign to increase the con- sumption of products able to provide a signifi- cant health protection and prevention of chronic diseases. Abstract. - Background: A constantly growing part of consumers considers the or- ganic foods healthier than the conventional foods. However, so far few nutritional interven- tion studies in humans are available on the comparison of organic and conventional food products. Objective: The aim of the present work was to compare the total antioxidant activity of or- ganic versus conventional fruits (apples, pears, red oranges, lemons, strawberries and ba- nanas), vegetables (lettuces, tomatoes, onions, garlics, carrots, beans, potatoes, celeries, peas, courgettes and zucchinies), red wine and milk. Design: The oxygen radical absorbing ca- pacity (ORAC) procedure was used to deter- mine both the antioxidant activity of food from organic or conventional origin, and the human plasma antioxidant capacity. Ten Caucasian Italian men, aged 30-65 years, were recruited. The subjects were healthy, according to the clinical examination and the disease history, none smoked or took any drug. Anthropomet- ric parameters of all the participants were mea- sured. Results: The ORAC values of most part of organic foods, i.e. fruits, vegetables as well as red wine and milk were significantly (p < 0.005) higher than those of the conventional homo- logues. Three organic foods, i.e. pears (-25%) (p < 0.01), lettuces (-20%) (p < 0.01), and toma- toes salsas (-4%) showed ORAC values lower than the conventional homologues. After the consumption of 14 days Mediterranean organic diet a significant (p < 0.005) increase (21%) of the human plasma total antioxidant capacity was observed. Conclusions: Our results clearly show that the organic food products have an higher total