Chen Dan, Chen Guijie, Sun Yi, Zeng Xiaoxiong, Ye Hong
College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, People's Republic of China.
College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, People's Republic of China.
Food Res Int. 2020 Nov;137:109584. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2020.109584. Epub 2020 Jul 24.
The flower of tea (Camellia sinensis L.) plant has been paid an increasing attention in the last twenty years, since it was found that tea flowers contained representative constituents similar to those of tea leaves, such as catechins, caffeine and amino acids. Tea flower is theoretically valuable although it has been considered as an industrial waste over a long period of time. This review summarizes the research findings conducted until now on physiological genetics, chemical composition, health benefits and toxicology of tea flowers, aiming to foresee their future applications. A lot of genes are involved in flower development and the synthesis and transmission of various chemicals in tea flowers. The chemical composition of tea flower consists mainly of catechins, polysaccharides, proteins, amino acids and saponins and thus tea flower possesses various health benefits such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunostimulating, antitumor, hypoglycemic, anti-obesity and anti-allergic activities. Moreover, tea flower contains a protease that can elevate the free amino acids content in the tea infusion by almost two folds. More importantly, the enzymatic activity of the protease is much higher than that of the commercially available proteases. Additionally, aqueous extracts of tea flower are demonstrated to safe to animals. Thus, the potential uses of tea flowers in food and medical fields are warranted.
在过去二十年里，茶树（Camellia sinensis L.）的花越来越受到关注，因为人们发现茶花含有与茶叶类似的代表性成分，如儿茶素、咖啡因和氨基酸。尽管长期以来茶花一直被视为工业废料，但从理论上讲它具有重要价值。这篇综述总结了迄今为止关于茶花的生理遗传学、化学成分、健康益处和毒理学的研究结果，旨在预见其未来的应用。许多基因参与茶花的发育以及各种化学物质在茶花中的合成与传递。茶花的化学成分主要包括儿茶素、多糖、蛋白质、氨基酸和皂苷，因此茶花具有多种健康益处，如抗氧化、抗炎、免疫刺激、抗肿瘤、降血糖、抗肥胖和抗过敏活性。此外，茶花含有一种蛋白酶，它能使茶汤中的游离氨基酸含量提高近两倍。更重要的是，这种蛋白酶的酶活性远高于市售蛋白酶。此外，茶花的水提取物对动物是安全的。因此，茶花在食品和医疗领域具有潜在的应用价值。
