PROFILES OF POTENTIALLY ANTIALLERGIC FLAVONOIDS IN 27 KINDS OF HEALTHTEA AND GREEN TEA INFUSIONS

Seven flavonoid profiles, some of which were reported to show antialle rgic activity in vitro, were surveyed in 28 kinds of tea. Flavonoids w ere extracted with hot water, hydrolyzed to aglycons, and determined b y HPLC. The hydrolysis time needed to obtain the maximum for each agly con was examined. Flavonols quercetin and kaempferol were found in 17 kinds of tea infusions, as well as Japanese green tea infusions. Myric etin was found in jasmine and pu-erh tea infusions. A flavon, luteolin , was found in 5 kinds of tea infusions including great plantain tea. Apigenin was found in 4 kinds of tea infusions including perilla leaf tea, and scutellarein was found in 3 kinds of tea infusions. Scutellar ein, which is a potent antiallergic and low cytotoxic flavonoid, is fo und in great plantain tea and was detected in perilla leaf and safflow er tea infusions at concentrations of approximately 2 mg/g and 0.3 mg/ g in dried whole tea leaves, respectively. The presence of scutellarei n in both samples was confirmed by LC/MS.