If you're the kind of health-conscious eater who scoops blueberries onto your breakfast cereal and piles broccoli, spinach and sweet potatoes onto your dinner plate, we have one word for you:

Guava.

The super-food reputation of the above-mentioned fruits and vegetables is based largely on their prodigious antioxidant activity. And preliminary findings by federal researchers show that guava - along with carambola - belongs in their league.

"Antioxidant" is a buzzword you've probably heard but may not fully understand:

They're plant chemicals (aka phytochemicals) that have the power to neutralize free radicals - unstable compounds generated by our bodies (and found in pollutants like cigarette smoke) that can wreak havoc with our health. Free radicals cause oxidative damage to human cells that can trigger heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

The public is catching on to the concept.

"Consumers are aware of the term 'antioxidant' - they know they're important; they know that they're good for you, and they know that you should eat foods that have more of them," said Ilene Smith, vice president and director of nutrition marketing for Ketchum, a public relations firm whose clients include California strawberry and almond growers.

"It's not just the nutritional geeks anymore."

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