Are you eating antioxidant foods fast enough?

Are antioxidant-rich foods part of your anti-aging regime? If so, you may want to consider their age.

According to recent research, the antioxidant benefits of many foods touted for their free-radical defense do not last as long as the food itself. Examining eight different teas from the U.S., Korea and Japan, the Department of Agriculture's Western Regional Research Center found that the level of immunity-boosting catechins depleted by more than 30% within six months in each kind, regardless of proper storage.

"We found that among the teas we looked at there seems to be a progressive decrease in the amount of antioxidants as a function of time," reported the lead author of the study, which appeared in the Journal of Food Science.

The same goes for olive oil, they found, showing a 40% antioxidant loss in half a year. Although these were the only two types of foods involved in the study, experts have reason to believe this reduction would be true in numerous foods and drinks.

So how can you ensure you're getting what you want from your nutritious choices? Experts suggest purchasing antioxidant-rich foods that can be consumed within a short amount of time in order to optimally benefit from them.