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Food Science and Human Wellness 2022, 11(3): 437-444 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fshw.2021.12.033
Review Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 04 February 2022

Focusing on the recent progress of tea polyphenol chemistry and perspectives

Show Author's Information Shiming Lia( ),  Liang Zhangb,  Xiaochun Wanb,  Jianfeng Zhana,  Chi-Tang Hoc( )
Hubei Key Laboratory of EFGIR, Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang 438000, China
State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization, School of Tea & Food Science, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
Department of Food Science, Rutgers University, NJ 08901, USA

Peer review under responsibility of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.

Keywords:
Tea chemistry, Flavonoalkaloids, RCS adducts, Aminated tea polyphenols, AGEs
Cite this article:
Li S, Zhang L, Wan X, et al. Focusing on the recent progress of tea polyphenol chemistry and perspectives. Food Science and Human Wellness, 2022, 11(3): 437-444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fshw.2021.12.033
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Abstract Full text About this article

Myriad evidence attests to the health-promoting benefits of tea drinking. While there are multiple factors of tea influencing the effective biological properties, tea polyphenols are the most significant and valuable components. The chemical characterization and physical characteristics of tea polyphenols have been comprehensively studied over the previous years. Still the emergence of new chemistry in tea, particularly the property of scavenging reactive carbonyl species (RCS) and the newly discovered flavoalkaloid compounds, has drawn increasing attention. In this review, we summarize recent findings of a new class of compounds in tea - flavonoid alkaloids (flavoalkaloids), which exist in fresh tea leaves and can be generated during the process of post-harvesting, and also postulate the formation mechanism of flavoalkaloids between catechins and theanine-derived Strecker aldehyde. Additionally, we detail the up-to-date research results of tea polyphenols regarding their ability to trap RCS and their in vivo aminated metabolites to suppress advanced glycation ends products (AGEs). We further raise questions to be addressed in the near future, including the synthetic pathways for the generation of flavoalkaloids and AGEs in fresh tea leaves before processing and the concentrations of tea polyphenols that affect their RCS scavenging capability due to their pro-oxidant nature. More intensive research is warranted to elucidate the mechanisms of action underlying the biological activity of flavoalkaloids and the pharmacological application of tea polyphenols in scavenging RCS and impeding detrimental AGEs.


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About this article

Focusing on the recent progress of tea polyphenol chemistry and perspectives

Show Author's information Shiming Lia( ), Liang Zhangb, Xiaochun Wanb, Jianfeng Zhana, Chi-Tang Hoc( )
Hubei Key Laboratory of EFGIR, Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang 438000, China
State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization, School of Tea & Food Science, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
Department of Food Science, Rutgers University, NJ 08901, USA

Peer review under responsibility of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.

Abstract

Myriad evidence attests to the health-promoting benefits of tea drinking. While there are multiple factors of tea influencing the effective biological properties, tea polyphenols are the most significant and valuable components. The chemical characterization and physical characteristics of tea polyphenols have been comprehensively studied over the previous years. Still the emergence of new chemistry in tea, particularly the property of scavenging reactive carbonyl species (RCS) and the newly discovered flavoalkaloid compounds, has drawn increasing attention. In this review, we summarize recent findings of a new class of compounds in tea - flavonoid alkaloids (flavoalkaloids), which exist in fresh tea leaves and can be generated during the process of post-harvesting, and also postulate the formation mechanism of flavoalkaloids between catechins and theanine-derived Strecker aldehyde. Additionally, we detail the up-to-date research results of tea polyphenols regarding their ability to trap RCS and their in vivo aminated metabolites to suppress advanced glycation ends products (AGEs). We further raise questions to be addressed in the near future, including the synthetic pathways for the generation of flavoalkaloids and AGEs in fresh tea leaves before processing and the concentrations of tea polyphenols that affect their RCS scavenging capability due to their pro-oxidant nature. More intensive research is warranted to elucidate the mechanisms of action underlying the biological activity of flavoalkaloids and the pharmacological application of tea polyphenols in scavenging RCS and impeding detrimental AGEs.

Keywords: Tea chemistry, Flavonoalkaloids, RCS adducts, Aminated tea polyphenols, AGEs

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Publication history

Received: 28 February 2021
Revised: 01 April 2021
Accepted: 05 April 2021
Published: 04 February 2022
Issue date: May 2022

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© 2022 Beijing Academy of Food Sciences.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Hubei Science and Technology Plan Key Project (G2019ABA100).

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This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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