Phytochemical and pharmacological studies on commercial teas

In the present study an attempt has been made to evaluate phytochemical and pharmacological aspects of 25 different commercial tea products available in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh, India. The studies revealed that pH of the all the products varied from 3.58–6.40 and the caffeine content varied from 1mg –20mg. The loss on drying in various the tea products was found to be 3.91–7.61% and ash values varied from 8–28.6%. The in – vitro cytotoxicity studies on Human Red Blood Cells revealed that the cytotoxic potential varied from 30.5–79.8%. The AVT premium tea has lowest cytotoxicity when compared to others. The antioxidant capacity measured by β- carotene bleaching assay varied from 55.9–84.5%. G – tee with mint has highest antioxidant potential amongst all the tea products. The in – vitro anti-inflammatory activity measured by membrane stabilization method revealed that tea products have anti-inflammatory activity ranging from 20.40–95.84. Tringrai Assam Dust tea has highest anti-inflammatory activity than other tea products. The results of our studies suggest that there is a need to assess the therapeutic claims and standardize the tea products using the modern phytochemical and pharmacological methods.