STUDY DISCOVERS THE NATURAL ANTIOXIDANT POWER OF POST CEREALS

Post Foods, LLC

Many recent studies and news stories have proclaimed that antioxidants are good for you - they are credited with everything from promoting heart health to assisting in cancer prevention.  Antioxidants help protect us by removing damaging molecules known as free radicals from our bodies.  If you ask most of us where to find antioxidants we might say fruit, vegetables, red wine, dark chocolate or even green tea.  But would it surprise you to learn that antioxidants are in whole grains?  Well, not only is it true, but researchers found that whole-grain foods like breakfast cereals have a comparable amount of antioxidants to fruits and vegetables when measuring them on a pound per pound basis! 

A recent study conducted by Post Foods and tested by Covance Laboratories discovered that Post Raisin Bran®, Post Grape-Nuts® and Post Shredded Wheat® contain significant amounts of natural antioxidants.  Post cereals were purchased from supermarket shelves and tested by Covance Laboratories (an independent laboratory that specializes in food testing) for levels of polyphenols.  Polyphenols are a type of natural antioxidants found in plants and are the most abundant antioxidants in the diet.  They have been researched in the areas of inflammation, heart health, anti-tumor, diabetes care, Alzheimer’s disease, oxidative stress and immune function.  The cereals were tested using DPPH test methods, a well recognized method for measuring antioxidants.  The results showed that Post cereals contain large amounts of naturally occurring polyphenols.  (See Table below for test results.)

Independent researchers studying polyphenols in whole grain cereals found similar results.  Professor Dr. Vinson of the University of Scranton recently found that substantial amounts of natural polyphenols reside in the whole grains of breakfast cereals. In their study, raisin bran had the most polyphenols of all the cereals tested.   “Early researchers thought fiber was the active ingredient for these benefits in whole grains – the reason why they may reduce the risk of cancer and coronary heart disease,” Vinson noted.  “But recently, polyphenols emerged as potentially more important.”

Vinson and his team presented their findings at the American Chemical Society annual meeting in August 2009 in Washington, DC.  (Source:  Science Daily, August 18, 2009)

So start your day with a bowl of Post Shredded Wheat®, Grape Nuts® or Post Raisin Bran® - the easy and tasty way to add more antioxidants to your diet.

Our whole grains contain natural fiber and antioxidants - that’s the Post Natural Advantage

Post Shredded Wheat®…………..Post Grape-Nuts®…………………Post Raisin Bran®