Greg Davis

An interesting study was reported that measured actual antioxidant content of green tea and olive oil.  If you buy something and don’t consume it within six months you’re looking at significant loss of antioxidants:

Drink up to get health benefits of green tea & EVOO

For those who swear by antioxidant-rich food and drink, two new studies show those health benefits can wane if the products are stored for too long a time. The findings focus specifically on how well antioxidant activity holds up in commercially available green tea bags and olive oil when stored unopened and unexposed to light or moisture. And, in each case, the research revealed that steep drops in antioxidant activity take place within the first six months.

For olive oil it sounds like you should consume within three months:

To explore the durability of antioxidants found in extra-virgin olive oil, Antonella Baiano and colleagues at the University of Foggia in Italy looked at several varieties of the oil that had been produced within 24 hours of having been plucked as olives from two groves located in the Apulia region of Italy.

After analyzing the oils during both production and packaging, Baianos team found that antioxidant activity remained unchanged throughout the first three months of storage. However, by the six-month mark, most of the oils had lost about 40% of their antioxidant properties.

And of course this is a good tip if you haven’t heard it before:

Diekman also suggested that consumers should generally favor tinted containers over clear ones, to protect antioxidant, vitamins and minerals from exposure to the sun.