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Micronutrient content of herbal teas
Author(s) -
Benatrehina Annecie P.,
Morris Larry,
McWhinney Ludine,
Clinger Kent,
Marshall Autumn
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.1025.8
Subject(s) - herb , dandelion , herbal tea , traditional medicine , micronutrient , echinacea (animal) , horticulture , chemistry , food science , medicinal herbs , medicine , biology , antioxidant , biochemistry , organic chemistry , alternative medicine , traditional chinese medicine , pathology
The objective of this study was to determine the amount of micronutrients in herbal teas. Herbal teas are widely consumed mainly for their claimed health values, but rarely has their mineral content been determined. In this study, infusions of twelve herbal teas were prepared similarly to commercial directions and the mineral content of the teas was analyzed by inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy. The tea samples include blueberry leaf, dandelion root, Echinacea herb and root, eleuthero root, ginger root, golden seal, hawthorn berry, lemon balm, peppermint, red clover seed, and raspberry leaf. The results show that none of these infusions contains a significant source of Mn, S, Fe, Na, or Al. However, higher amounts of P, K, Ca, and Mg were observed in several of these infusions, especially in Echinacea herb, ginger root, and golden seal. This research was funded in part by a Vitamin Settlement Grant from the State of Tennessee. Annecie Benatrehina was the recipient of a Langford‐Yates summer research fellowship from Lipscomb University in 2011.