Development And Characterisation Of Nutraceutical Herbal Tea From Polyalthia Longifolia Leaves

• Main Author: Alkatib, Huda Hisham Sultan
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: R5-920 Medicine (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.usm.my/62014/

The development of nutraceutical herbal tea from native medicinal plants has gained popularity due to its numerous health benefits. Polyalthia longifolia is well documented for its valuable ethnomedicinal properties, but no commercial products are available based on this plant. Therefore, the new MyAyush® nutraceutical tea was developed in this study from P. longifolia leaves. Initially, to establish the standards for the P. longifolia leaves, which can be used to correctly identify the plant in the future and ensure the quality of MyAyush® tea, the evaluation of proximate, phytochemical, FTIR and heavy metals analyses were conducted. Subsequently, the sensory evaluation, in vitro antioxidant, anticancer, and antitumorigenic activities of the MyAyush® tea were also assessed. The proximate, phytochemical, and heavy metals analyses revealed the presence of crucial proximate composition (6.9% ash, 25% crude fibre, 4.5% crude fat, 18.9% crude protein, 6.6% moisture, and 63.1% carbohydrates), 32 phytochemicals, as well as the presence of, mercury, cadmium, lead and arsenic in low quantities and within the permissible limit. The standardization of MyAyush® tea was performed by quantifying the rutin chemical marker, which was found in a concentration of 1.2 μg/mL (0.12%). Besides, the FTIR analysis showed the presence of ten peaks' areas in the range of 3500 to 400 cm-1 for various specific functional groups. The sensory evaluation results indicated that the average general acceptance level of MyAyush® tea (6.6) was close to the acceptance level (7) of the commercially available tea.