500 year old green tea fields, Boseong, Jeollanam-do, South Korea (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The following herbs were studied in combination with and without green tea: Grape seed, pomegranate peel, amla berry, cinnamon, and ginkgo. They are all known for high levels of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and antioxidant activity.
Tea (Camellia sinensis) contains numerous chemicals beneficial to human health. Grape seed (Vitis vinifera) is rich in polyphenols and is useful for liver fibrosis, ischemic injury and cancer. Pomgranate peel (Anar or Punica granatum) contains high antioxidant levels, which protect from carbon tetrachloride liver toxicity. Amla (Phyllanthus emblica) is high in ascorbic acid (vitamin C), giving it “adaptogenic, anti-stress, immunomodulatory, and memory facilitating effects.” Cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia) is useful in treating diabetes and different cancers. Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) is antioxidant and treats cerebral insufficiency, both vascular and degenerative.
After the literature was searched, the above five herbs were evaluated with the green tea extract, and plant extracts were made of those plants. Total flavonoid assays were measured, and multiple antioxidant assays were performed. The five herbs were mixed and added to different amounts of green tea. The highest phenolic content and the highest flavonoid levels were in the mixture with green tea. Grape seed extract alone was second best.
This study is based on the hypothesis that plant combinations have a synergistic effect when combined, such as with green tea, and are more protective than single plants alone. The combination of five extracts had the highest antioxidant activity when used with green tea with the ratio of green tea, grape seed, Amla, pomegranate, cinnamon and ginkgo. The ratio was 5:33:3:3:3.
CONCLUSION: Antioxidant activity of plants depends on plant chemicals. The highest antioxidant activity was seen in combinations of the above herbs with a higher dose of green tea, and is the result of synergism (two plants acting together are stronger than two plants separately).
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PMID: 22171315.
Summary #681.
