ORIGINAL ARTICLEPharmacognosy MagazineVol. 12 | Issue 45 | 2016 | pp. 75–9Open access
- 1,
- 1,
- 1*
- 1 Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, H‑6720 Szeged, Hungary.
Published in Pharmacognosy Magazine
Correspondence: Dezső Csupor
Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, H‑6720 Szeged, Hungary.
Email: csupor.dezso@pharmacognosy.hu
Copyright: © 2016 Manuscript Technomedia. This is an open access article.
- Published:
- Jan 1, 2016
How to cite
Boros, K., Jedlinszki, N., & Csupor, D. (2016). Pharmacognosy Magazine, 12(45), 75–9. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-1296.176061
Abstract
Background: Caffeine and L‑theanine are pharmacologically important constituents of tea, especially due to their effects on the central nervous system. The effects of these two compounds are opposite: While caffeine is a well‑known stimulant, theanine has a relaxing effect. Tea processing may influence the caffeine and theanine content of tea leaves. Objective: The aim of our work was to quantify these constituents from a set of commercial products to reveal the possible correlations of caffeine and theanine content and processing methods. Materials and Methods: Theanine and caffeine contents of 37 commercial white, green, oolong, black, and pu‑erh tea samples were quantified by high‑performance liquid chromatography‑diode array detector. Results: The mean L‑theanine content of white, green, oolong, and black teas were 6.26, 6.56, 6.09, and 5.13 mg/g, respectively. The same values for caffeine content were 16.79, 16.28, 19.31, and 17.73 mg/g. Conclusion: Though the effect of processing on theanine content was evident, quantification for these analytes does not seem to be a good criterion to discriminate the different types of tea. Caffeine content provided no information on the effect of processing, and the theanine content of the samples was rather variable, independently from the type of the tea. The quantitative analysis of caffeine and theanine is essential to assess the stimulating effect of the tea, however, for chemical profiling further secondary metabolites have to be determined.
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Article metadata
| Title | |
|---|---|
| Authors | Klára Boros; Nikoletta Jedlinszki; Dezső Csupor |
| Affiliations | Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, H‑6720 Szeged, Hungary. |
| Corresponding author | csupor.dezso@pharmacognosy.hu |
| Journal | Pharmacognosy Magazine |
| Volume / Issue | Vol. 12, Issue 45 (2016) |
Also in this issue
- A New Biphenyl Neolignan from Leaves of Patrinia villosa (Thunb.) Juss.pp. 1–3
- An Efficient High‑performance Liquid Chromatography Combined with Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry Method to Elaborate the Changes of Components Between the Raw and Processed Radix Aconitum kusnezoffiipp. 4–8
- Optimization of Ultrasound‑assisted Extraction of Phenolic Compounds from Myrcia amazonica DC. (Myrtaceae) Leavespp. 9–12
- Determination of Ruscogenin in Ophiopogonis Radix by High‑performance Liquid Chromatography‑evaporative Light Scattering Detector Coupled with Hierarchical Clustering Analysispp. 13–20
- Comparative Pharmacokinetics of Ginsenoside Rg3 and Ginsenoside Rh2 after Oral Administration of Ginsenoside Rg3 in Normal and Walker 256 Tumor‑bearing Ratspp. 21–4
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