Krispy Kreme Donuts / Doughnuts, Plain

ORAC Value:
160
μ mol TE/100g.

The antioxidant value of Krispy Kreme Donuts / Doughnuts, Plain described in ORAC units is: 160 μ mol TE/100g.

 

Do donuts have any nutritional value whatsoever? We would love to tell you they don't, but by doing so we would be lying. As it turns out, the ORAC test done on plain Krispy Kreme doughnuts came back as having a value of 160. That's a measurement which is used to calculate the total amount of antioxidants within 100 grams (about 3.5 ounces worth) of a given food or beverage. One plain glazed Krispy Kreme donut should weigh around 1.7 ounces, so you would need to eat just over two of them to attain the amount of antioxidants reflected in this measurement.

Before you get exited though and order a bakers dozen of these sugar-glazed goodies, know that this value is about as low as you can go on the ORAC chart! Almost all foods will rank higher than it. The types of foods that have values in the 100 to 300's are typically things like a Wendy's grilled chicken sandwich (150) and a Domino's cheese pizza (200). This is because there is almost no antioxidant content in meats and other animal products, like dairy and eggs. For that reason we can conclude that any of this health benefit that's showing up in this donut test is most likely coming from the wheat flours and any other grains in it.

Even your most boring fruits and vegetables often have ORAC values of 10 to 50x or higher than these glazed sugar coma concoctions. Take a look at the ORAC values tab in the nav menu to scroll and see for yourself.

There's no point in preaching the evils of that white powder known as sugar, so we're not even going to bother. You already know it's not nutritious! But what we do want to bring to your attention that you probably don't know about is the acrylamide which is present in donuts due to the high temperatures in which they are fried.

ORAC Source

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't: Carlsen MH, Halvorsen BL, Holte K, et al. Nutrition Journal NIH Jan 2010