Coumaroyl Flavonol Glycosides and More in Marketed Green Teas: An Intrinsic Value beyond Much-Lauded Catechins

Abstract

Marketed green teas (GTs) can highly vary in their chemical composition, due to different origins, processing methods, and a lack of standardization of GT-based products. Consequently, biological activities become difficult to correlate to the presence/content of certain constituents. Herein, ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) combined with high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (HR MS/MS) was successfully applied to six commercial GT products, extracted by ethanol sonication, to disclose their polyphenol profile beyond the well-known catechins. The relative abundance of each class of metabolites was correlated to antiradical and antilipoperoxidant data through hierarchical clustering analysis, since it reasonably affects the beneficial properties of the product that reaches the consumer. The thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay demonstrated that GT extracts effectively counteracted the UV-induced lipoperoxidation of hemp oil, which is highly rich in Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs), and therefore highly unstable. The Relative Antioxidant Capacity Index (RACI) comprehensively emphasized that gunpower and blend in filter GTs appeared to be the less active matrices, and except for a GT-based supplement, the Sencha GT, which was particularly rich in flavonol glycosides, was the most active, followed by Bancha GT.