Chinese Medicine, 2011, 2, 29-31
doi:10.4236/cm.2011.21005 Published Online March 2011 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/cm)
Polyphenol Content and Antioxidant Effects in Herb Teas
Shizuo Toda
Department of Health Sciences, Kansai University of Health S c ie nces, Osaka, Japan
Received September 22, 2010; revised November 4, 2010; accepted December 22, 2010
Abstract
Herb teas, Arabian jasmine, Balsam pear, Barley grass, Guava, Hardy rubber tree, Japanese persimmon, Jobs
tears, Oolong tea, Puerh tea and Wolofberry have been consumed as beverages for health in Asia. Oxidative
stress induces various diseases. Some of them, Arabian jasmine, Guava, Hardy rubber tree, Japanese per-
simmon, Oolong tea and Puerh tea, have high total polyphenol content and antioxidant activities. Herbs and
herbal polyphenols pay in controlling oxidation and prevent the damage by oxidation. These results showed
that some of them, Arabian jasmine, Guava, Hardy rubber tree, Japanese persimmon, Oolong tea and Puerh
tea, have high total polyphenol content and antioxidant activities. It has been demonstrated that high total
polyphenol content in the herb teas provides high antioxidant activities.
Keywords: Antioxidant Effect, Herb Tea, Polyphenol
1. Introduction
Reactive oxygen species and free radicals induce oxida-
tive stress. Oxid ative stress is related to acute lung injury,
acute respiratory distress syndrome and hyperoxia, aging,
cardiovascular diseases as hypertension and myocardial
infarction, cancer, diabetes, eye disease as age-related
macular degeneration, immune diseases as inflammation
and autoimmune disease, kidney disease, liver disease,
neurological diseases as Alzheimer’s disease, Hungting-
ton’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, and pancreatitis
[1-3].
The antioxidant pays in controlling oxidation and pre-
vents the oxidation induced damage. They are, aminoa-
cid (N-acetyl cysteine, L-arginine, glutathione, glycine,
histi dine, ta urine a nd thiols), enzyme (catalase and supe-
roxide dismutase), mineral (copper, iron, selenium, zinc),
natural product (allicin, anthocyanin, biochanin A, caro-
tenoids, cucumin, ellagic acid, epigallocatechin-3-O-
gallate, flavo noid s, gluc osino lates, narin gin, p hyytic acid ,
polyphenol, querecetin), protein (alubumin, billrubin,
ceruloplasmin, glutathione, lactoferrin, thioredoxin and
transferrin), vitamine (nicotinamide, retinol, riboflavin,
vitamin C, vitamin E), and urate [1-4].
Herbs have been consumed for food and medicinal
purposes. They have a wide variety of active phyto-
chemicals, including allicin, anthocyanin, biochanin A,
carotenoids, coumarins, curcumins, ellagic acid, epigal-
locatechin-3-O-gallate, flavonoids, lignans, phthalides,
phytic acid, plant sterols, polyphenols, saponins, sulfides
and terpenoids. They contain potent antioxidant com-
pounds, prevent odidative stress and provide significant
protection against chronic diseases [5,6].
Tea is a rich source of polyphenolic flavonoids which
exhibits potent antioxidant activity in vitro and in vivo.
The polyphenolic flavonoid content of tea depends upon
the type and preparation method. Randomized clinical
examining the effect of tea on putative intermediary
biomarkers suggest a potential health benefit from tea
consumption [7].
Herb teas, Arabian jasmine, Balsam pear, Barley grass,
Guava, Hardy rubber tree, Japanese persimmon, Jobs
tears, Oolong tea, Puerh tea and Wolofberry have been
consumed beverages for health in Asia, and especially
Japan.
This article investigats total polyphenol content and
antioxidant activities of these herb teas were investi-
gated.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Materials
The tested herbs, Arabian jasmine, Balsam pear, Barley
grass, Chameleon plant, Guava, Hardy rubber tree, Jap-
anese persimmon, Jobs tears, Oolong tea, Puerh tea and
Wolofberry, were from Yamamoto Kampo Co. (Aichi,
Japan). They were of com mercial grade.

S. TODA
30
Ascorbic acid, glutathione and tannic acid were pur-
chased from Wako Pure Chemicals Co. (Osaka, Japan).
PAO-antioxidant assay kit was purchased from Japan
Institute for the Control of Aging (Shizuoka, Japan).
Other common laboratory reagents were of analytical
grade.
2.2. Preparation of the Herb Tea-Water Extract
1 g of the tested herb was extracted with 20 mL of hot
water and stirred for 20 min. The water extract was fil-
tered. The filtrate was allowed to stand at 25˚C. The fil-
trate was diluted to 1 % with water as test sa mple .
2.3. Determination of Total Polyphenol Content
The total polyphenol content of the water extract was
determined by the Folin-Ciocallteu colorimetric method
[8]. 0.5 mL tested sample was mixed with 0.5 mL of
Folin-Ciocallteu reagent and 0.5 mL of 10% sodium
carbonate solution. After mixture was incubated at room
temperature for 1 h, the absorbance was measured at 760
nm. The total polyphenol was expressed as mg/g tannic
acid equivalent.
2.4. Antioxidant Assay
The antioxidant activit y of test sample was assayed by
PAO-antioxidant assay kit (Japan Institute for the Con-
trol of Aging, Shizuoka, Japan). The antioxidant activit y
was mmol/L as copper reducing power [9].
2.5. Statistical Analysis
The values were expressed by the means of ± standard
deviation (SD) of five experiments. The results were
analyzed by the nonparametric analysis of variance
(ANOVA)- Scheffe F-test.
3. Resul t s
Table 1 shows the total polyphenol content of the herb
tea-water extract. The total polyphenol content of Ara-
bian jasmine, Guava, Hardy rubber tree, Japanese per-
simmon, Oolong tea and Puerh tea-water extract was
more than that of othe rs.
Table 2 shows the results of antioxidant assay. The
antioxidant activities of Arabian jasmine, Guava, Hardy
rubber tree, Japanese persimmon, Oolong tea and Puerh
tea-water extract were higher than those of others at 50.0
mg/mL of the herb tea-water extract. The antioxidant
activities of ascorbic acid and glutathione are 11.38 ±
1.76 and 2.63 ± 1.27 mmol/mM at 1.0 mM of those rea-
gents.
4. Discussion
Herbal medicines have been consumed and played an
important role in the world. Wargovin demonstrated that
the widespread use of herbs either directly or indirectly
supplements, may prevent cancer, and help health pro-
motion [10]. The tested herbs, Arabian jasmine, Balsam
pear, Barley grass, Hardy rubber tree, Japanese persim-
mon, Jobs tears, Oolong tea, Puerh tea and Wolofberry,
were consumed as beverages for health in Asia.
Green tea polyphenols, epicatechin, epigallocatechin
gallic acid and ep igallocate chin gallate in hibit pr od uction
of oxidative stress. Oxidative stresses induce various
diseases, heart disease, renal disease and failure, skin
Table 1. Total polyphenol content of herb te a-water extract.
Herb tea-water extract Total polyph enol content (mg/g)
Arabian jasmine 101.2 ± 17.8
Balsam pe ar 14.5 ± 2.6
Barley grass 10.5 ± 1.5
Guava 83.0 ± 5.9
Hardy rubber tree 43.4 ± 4.8
Japanes e persimmon 41.3 ± 6.7
Jobs tears 4.2 ± 1.4
Oolong tea 120.9 ± 14.8
Puerh tea 40.4 ± 7.2
Wolofberry 17.1 ± 4.2
The Total polyphe nol content of the h erb t ea–wate r extract was determined
by Folin-Ciocallteu colorimetric method. The value was expressed as the
mean ± SD of five experiments.
Table 2. Antioxidant activity of herb tea-water extract.
Herb tea-water extract Antioxidant activity
Arabian jasmine 14 4. 0 ± 1.4 mmol / L
Balsam pe ar 19.7 ± 2.4 mmol/L
Barley grass 9.2 ± 0. 5 m m ol/L
Guava 172.5 ± 2.0 mmol/L
Hardy rubber tree 45.5 ± 2.3 mmol/L
Japanes e persimmon 65.7 ± 1.8 mmol/L
Jobs tears 7.4 ± 1.7 mmol/ L
Oolong tea 184.8 ± 2. 7 mmo l/L
Puerh tea 59.1 ± 2.2 mmol/L
Wolofberry 20.1 ± 0.7 mmol/L
Ascorbic acid 139. 7 ± 0.5 mmol /L
Glutathione 76.6 ± 9.5 mmol/L
The antioxidant activity of test sample was assayed by PAO-antioxidant
assay kit. The value was expressed as the mean ± SD of five experiments.

S. TODA
31
exposure damage caused by ultraviolet rays, and diseases
associated with aging. Green tea polyphenols have anti-
oxidant effects, suc h as cancer prevention and inhibitio n,
obesity and weight controlling. [11]. The daily intake of
pol ypheno l ha s be en sho wed ~1 g/d. give n diet including
so me co mmon fruit s, vegetabl es and beverages [12].
The presented herb teas have various effects [13-22].
Tables 1 and 2 show that some of them, Arabian jasmine,
Guava, Hardy rubber tree, Japanese persimmon, Oolong
tea and Puerh tea, have high total polyphenol content and
antioxidant activities.
These results demonstrated that the high total poly-
pheno l conte nt i n the he rb te as pr ovide s high antioxidant
effects.
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