Preliminary study of potential herbal tea, Acalypha indica and comparison with domestic tea in Malaysia market

Tea is commonly served in Malaysian dining culture. Most of commercialized tea is made of Camellia sinensis that produces sweet aromatic smell. However, there are plenty of herb species in Malaysia that remain unknown to be used as tea while possess therapeutic effects. Acalypha indica is one of the herb species with sweet aromatic smell that has been traditionally consumed as healthy drink. In this study, the antioxidant activities of all plant parts of Acalypha indica was determined in terms of total phenolic, tannin and flavonoid contents, 1,1-Diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, ferric reducing power (FRAP) and total cyanogenic glycoside content by comparing the measurements with two commercialized tea made of Camellia sinensis (P1 and P2). The phenolic content, tannin content and the FRAP values of Acalypha indica was lower than the P1 and P2. While, higher flavonoid content (24.33±2.96 mgQE/g) and DPPH value (0.089±0.003 mg/mL, IC50) were recorded on the Acalypha indica. The high antioxidant activity of Acalypha indica was attributed by the high flavonoid content in the plant that might be useful for therapeutic purpose. Besides, it is also safe to be consumed as tea as there was no detection of cyanogenic. However, further study is necessary to clarify the cyanogenic content and to confirm the volatile compound in the plant