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. 2022 May 26;11(11):1412.
doi: 10.3390/plants11111412.

Elemental Composition of Commercial Herbal Tea Plants and Respective Infusions

Jaime Fernandes  1 , Fernando H Reboredo  1   2 , Inês Luis  1 , Maria Manuela Silva  2   3 , Maria M Simões  1   2 , Fernando C Lidon  1   2 , José C Ramalho  2   4
Affiliations

Elemental Composition of Commercial Herbal Tea Plants and Respective Infusions

Jaime Fernandes et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

This study evaluated the elemental composition of 25 herbal tea plants commonly used in infusions by Portuguese consumers and the contribution to the elemental daily intake of some essential elements. Hydrocotyle asiatica (L.), Matricaria chamomilla (L.), and Melissa officinalis (L.) samples are a rich source of K with around 6.0 mg g-1 while the Asteraceae Silybum marianum (L.) and Echinacea angustifolia (DC.) exhibited 4.9 and 5.6 mg g-1 Ca, respectively. The highest concentrations of S and Zn were noted in Hydrocotyle asiatica (L.), while the highest concentration of Sr was found in Cassia angustifolia (Vahl.). In general, a large variability in the concentrations among different families and plant organs had been observed, except Cu with levels around 30 μg g-1. The principal component analysis (PCA) showed positive correlations between Zn and S and Sr and Ca, also revealing that Hydrocotyle asiatica (L.), Echinacea angustifolia (DC.), Silybum marianum (L.), and Cassia angustifolia (Vahl.) samples, stands out about all other samples regarding the enrichment of macro and micronutrients. The elemental solubility of macronutrients in the infusion is greater than the micronutrient solubility, despite the contribution to the recommended daily intake was weak. As a whole, Cynara scolymus (L.) and Hibiscus sabdariffa (L.) are the species with the best elemental solubilities, followed by Hydrocotyle asiatica (L.). No harmful elements, such as As and Pb, were observed in both the raw material and the infusions.

Keywords: PCA analysis; X-ray fluorescence; elemental composition; herbal infusions; herbal tea samples; inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study, collection of samples, analysis, interpretation of data, and in the writing of the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Dendrogram, obtained by the Ward.D2 method [21], from 25 plant samples, showing 5 clusters.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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