Three Brands of Chinese Green Tea Confer Immunity and Attenuate Susceptibility to Malaria Infection on a Long Term

The study evaluated the phytochemical compounds; the antioxidant and anti-malarial activity of Chinese green tea (GBTI9593, TD659 and XH609) extract fractions and the synergistic interactions of the bioactive constituents. Antioxidant activity was measured by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity of the extract, based on the scavenging of the stable 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical using ethanol extract, methanol fraction, and water fraction of Chinese green tea in 4 levels of concentration (25, 50, 75, 100μg/ ml). Gas chromatography – Mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to extract samples of the Chinese green tea into different components with different retention times. Malaria susceptible respondents (10) in number who have used the tea in the last 3 years were interviewed and their experiences regarding the tea were noted. The results of GC-MS analysis showed that at least 9, 12 and 8 bioactive compounds were present in the methanol extract of GBTI9593, TD659 and XH609 respectively. These compounds were identified through mass spectrometry (MS) attached to gas chromatogram (GC). XH609 had the highest value of 0.094%, ascorbic acid was 0.146% and garlic acid was 0.203% at 25µg/ml compared to GBTI9593 and TD659. These results reveal that the extracts of green tea XH-609 could act as electron donor and could also react with free radicals by converting them to more stable products and terminating the radical chain reaction. Thus the in-vitro studies clearly indicate that the methanol extract of these Chinese tea show significant antioxidant activity and also a better source of natural antioxidant, which might be helpful in preventing the process of various oxidative stresses implicated in the onset of malaria infection. In conclusion, the extract and fractions of Chinese green tea GBTI9593, TD659 and XH609 have potential anti-malarial and antioxidant properties. Keywords: Chinese, tea, antioxidant, GBT19593, TD659, malari