Physiological and Pharmacological Activites of Nutraceutical Tea by Leaves and Flowers of Domestic Camellia(Camellia japonica)

  • Lee, Sook-Young (Biotechnology Industrialization Center, Dongshin University) ;
  • Cha, Young-Ju (Biotechnology Industrialization Center, Dongshin University) ;
  • Lee, Jang-Won (Biotechnology Industrialization Center, Dongshin University) ;
  • Hwang, Eun-Ju (Biotechnology Industrialization Center, Dongshin University) ;
  • Kwon, Su-Jung (Biotechnology Industrialization Center, Dongshin University) ;
  • Cho, Su-In (Dept. of Herbology, College of Oriental Medicine, Dongshin University)
  • Published : 2003.10.01

Abstract

This project was conducted to development several camellia tea mixed herb teas having any physiological effects. Leaves of tea tree contain many compounds, such as polysaccharides, volatile oils, vitamins, minerals, purines, alkaloids(eg. caffeine) and polyphenols(catechins and flavonoids). Although all three tea types(green, oolonr and black) have antibacterial and free radical capturing(antioxidizing) activities, the efficacy decreases substantially the darker the variety of tea is. This is due to lower contents of anti-oxidizing polyphenols remaining in the leaves. Unlike tea tree(Camellia sinensis), the biochemical features and effects of camellia(Camellia japonica) are not well known. Fresh mature leaf of sasanqua camellia(C. sasanqua), roasted young leaf tea(C. japonica) and fresh mature leaf and bark of camellia had high antibacterial activity against P. vulgaris and B. subtilis. In antifungal activity bioassay, young leaf roasted teas of camellia and sasanqua camellia had high activity against C. albicans and T. beigelil. Plant extracts from Camelia japonica had higher inhibitory activity against fungi than against bacteria. In cytotoxic effect against human acute myelogenous leukaemia cell extracts including fresh leaf(200$\mu\textrm{g}$/m1), bark(230$\mu\textrm{g}$/ml) and flower tea (320$\mu\textrm{g}$/m1)inhibited growth of AML cells.(중략)

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