Antioxidant Score
Antioxidant Score: What It Means and How It's Measured
Key Facts
- What it estimates
- Antioxidant-related nutrient status via skin carotenoids
- Measurement method
- Non-invasive, light-based skin scan
- Not a substitute for
- Medical diagnosis or blood testing
- Typical change speed
- Gradual, over weeks of sustained dietary change
What Are Antioxidants?
Antioxidants are compounds that help neutralise unstable molecules called free radicals, which the body produces naturally and which can also come from external sources like pollution and UV exposure. Many antioxidants — including vitamin C, vitamin E, and carotenoids — are obtained through diet, particularly from fruits and vegetables.
What Is an Antioxidant Score?
An antioxidant score is a way of summarising antioxidant-related measurements into a single, trackable number. Because measuring every antioxidant compound in the body directly isn't practical, antioxidant scores are typically derived from a specific, well-studied marker — most often skin carotenoid levels — used as a proxy indicator rather than a complete accounting of every antioxidant present in the body.
What Are Carotenoids and Skin Carotenoids?
Carotenoids are natural pigments found in many fruits and vegetables. Several — including beta-carotene, lycopene, and lutein — function as antioxidants in the body. Skin carotenoids refers specifically to the carotenoids that accumulate in skin tissue, which can be measured non-invasively at the surface of the skin rather than through blood collection.
How Are Skin Carotenoids Measured?
Skin carotenoid measurement typically uses light-based scanning technology (such as resonance Raman spectroscopy in published research) placed briefly against the skin to estimate carotenoid concentration. This is what's generally meant by an antioxidant scanner: a device built around this kind of measurement. Prysm iO, for instance, uses patent-pending Spectral Rai™ technology to take 700,000+ measurements from a 15-second fingertip scan — see its own page for full detail.
What Affects Carotenoid Levels?
Diet is the primary driver — regular intake of carotenoid-rich fruits and vegetables raises skin carotenoid levels over time. Other factors can influence measurement or absorption, including overall dietary fat intake (carotenoids are fat-soluble), certain lifestyle factors, and normal individual variation. Diet can meaningfully influence carotenoid levels, but changes accumulate gradually rather than instantly.
Skin Measurement vs. Blood Testing
Blood testing can measure specific antioxidant or nutrient markers directly from a sample, typically through a clinical or laboratory process. Skin carotenoid scanning is non-invasive, faster, and designed for repeatable, at-home-adjacent tracking, but it estimates rather than directly measures blood-level antioxidant markers. Neither method captures every antioxidant in the body.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can antioxidant levels be measured directly?
Total antioxidant activity across the whole body is difficult to measure directly. Most practical measurement approaches — including skin carotenoid scanning and certain blood tests — estimate antioxidant status via specific marker compounds, such as carotenoids, rather than measuring every antioxidant present.
What is considered a 'good' antioxidant score?
[VERIFY: needs official Prysm guidance on score ranges/benchmarks]. Scores are individual and influenced by diet, skin tone, and other factors, so they are best interpreted as a personal trend over multiple scans rather than compared against a universal target.
How quickly can a score change?
Skin carotenoid levels build up and deplete gradually with sustained dietary changes — typically over a period of weeks rather than days. A single meal or short-term change in diet is unlikely to meaningfully shift a measurement.
Is a skin carotenoid scan the same as a blood antioxidant test?
No. Skin measurement is non-invasive and estimates carotenoid levels at the skin's surface using light-based technology. Blood testing measures markers directly in a blood sample. The two use different methods and are not directly interchangeable.
References
- Ermakov IV, Sharifzadeh M, Ermakova MR, Gellermann W (2005), "Resonance Raman detection of carotenoid antioxidants in living human tissue," Journal of Biomedical Optics 10(6):064028
- Mayne ST et al. (2010), "Noninvasive assessment of dermal carotenoids as a biomarker of fruit and vegetable intake," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 92(4):794–800
- Lobo V, Patil A, Phatak A, Chandra N (2010), "Free radicals, antioxidants and functional foods: Impact on human health," Pharmacognosy Reviews 4(8):118–126
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