Chemical profiling of infusions and decoctions of Helichrysum italicum subsp. picardii by UHPLC-PDA-MS and in vitro biological activities comparatively with green tea (Camellia sinensis) and rooibos tisane (Aspalathus linearis)

Catarina Guerreiro Pereira,Luísa Barreira,Sebastiaan Bijttebier,Luc Pieters,Vanessa Neves,Maria João Rodrigues,Ricardo Rivas,João Varela,Luísa Custódio

doi:10.1016/j.jpba.2017.07.007

Abstract

Several medicinal plants are currently used by the food industry as functional additives, for example botanical extracts in herbal drinks. Moreover, the scientific community has recently begun focusing on halophytes as sources of functional beverages. Helichrysum italicum subsp. picardii (everlasting) is an aromatic halophyte common in southern Europe frequently used as spice and in traditional medicine. In this context, this work explored for the first time H. italicum subsp. picardii as a potential source of innovative herbal beverages with potential health promoting properties. For that purpose, infusions and decoctions were prepared from roots, vegetative aerial-organs (stems and leaves) and flowers and evaluated for in vitro antioxidant and anti-diabetic activities. Samples were also assessed for toxicity in different mammalian cell lines and chemically characterized by spectrophotometric methods and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography–photodiode array–mass-spectrometry (UHPLC-PDA-MS). Results were expressed relating to ‘a cup-of-tea’ and compared with those obtained with green tea (Camellia sinensis) and rooibos tisane (Aspalathus linearis). Tisanes from the everlasting’s above-ground organs, particularly flowers, have high polyphenolic content and several phenolics were identified; the main compounds were chlorogenic and quinic acids, dicaffeoylquinic-acid isomers and gnaphaliin-A. The antioxidant activity of beverages from the everlasting’s above-ground organs matched or surpassed that of green tea and rooibos. Its anti-diabetic activity was moderate and toxicity low. Overall, our results suggest that the everlasting is a potential source of innovative and functional herbal beverages.

Highlights

Tea is one of the most common beverages in the world
The phenolic contents of the samples were assessed by spectrophotometric methods, namely the total contents in polyphenols (TPC), flavonoids (TFC) and condensed tannins (TCT), hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives (HAD) and flavonols, and are presented as mg per cup-oftea in Table 1
The green tea decoction and infusion had the highest TPC (107 and 91.7 mg/cup-of-tea, respectively), followed by the extracts from flowers and vegetative aerial-organs of H. italicum subsp. picardii, which in turn were richer in TPC than rooibos tisanes

Summary

Introduction

Tea is one of the most common beverages in the world. Pairing a pleasant taste to stimulating effects and potential health benefits, this popular drink is a cocktail of biologically active phytochemicals as, for example, catechins and gallocatechins. Tisanes, are infusions or decoctions of any plant material whereas real teas are prepared from the leaves of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze. The health benefits derived from the consumption of real tea, the green type, are well described and include cancer prevention, reduction of cardiovascular risk, anti-diabetic and anti-obesity properties and / or protection against oxidative damage and oxidative stress-related diseases [1,2]. As for herbal teas, consumption benefits can be associated with the plants’ medicinal properties. The popular herbal red tea, from the rooibos plant Aspalathus linearis (Burm.f.)

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