Abstract

TOTAL FLAVONOID CONTENT OF COMMONLY CONSUMED TEAS IN INDIA

Bansode P. A*

Abstract

The flavonoids present in the tea are known to exhibit anticarcinogenic, antimicrobial, antiviral, antiarteriosclerosis, antihypertensive, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and antidiuretic activities and thus they are therapeutically important class of compounds. Therefore it is necessary to find out levels of bioactive compounds in various tea samples. In the present investigation six commercial varieties including black and green tea from Indian market were analyzed for their total flavonoid content using uv-visible spectrophotometer. The total amounts of flavonoid were determined by aluminium chloride method with some modifications and the total flavonoids were expressed as mg/g of quercetin equivalents. The results shown that all tea samples tested found to contain comparable high total flavonoids as rich sources of bioactive compounds and it justifies their use for human health benefits.

Keywords: Flavonoids, Cancer, tea, Anticancer, Quercetin, human health.