PRACTICAL GUIDE TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PHENOLIC-RICH HERBAL TEA FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF HYPERLIPIDEMIA

Description

Hyperlipidemia is characterized by abnormally high levels of lipids in the blood and is associated with cardiovascular diseases. Growing research interests on the dietary management of hyperlipidemia have, among other things, identified tea as possessing bioactive substances that have anti-lipolytic effect. The most important among these bioactive substances are phenolic compounds which are usually influenced by processing methods used during tea manufacture. Many phenolics rich herbs such as the leaves of Stathmostelma sp. are used in some communities and can be processed into herbal teas. Towards this objective, a Central Composite Design was used to optimize the roasting and brewing conditions and to determine the pattern of variation in the free phenolics during these processes. This was followed by the determination of the inhibitory effect of the formulated beverage on the activity of porcine pancreatic lipase using in vitro techniques. This book containing study cases is a practical guide on the development of a phenolic-rich herbal tea from plant leaves.