Major flavonoid constituents and short-term effects of Chun Mee tea in rats

Chun Mee tea is a kind of green tea produced in China mainly for export purposes. Foam quantity is usually used as an index for evaluating the quality of Chun Mee tea. In the current study, we compared the concentrations of total saponin and flavonoids between foamy and low-foam Chun Mee tea. Our research confirmed that the total saponin and O-glycosylated flavonoid concentrations were related to the foam quantity of Chun Mee teas. We also studied the short-term safety effects of extract supplementation with foamy and low-foam Chun Mee tea in rats by routine blood tests and analysis of liver and kidney function, and blood lipids. Our results showed that both types of tea extract supplementations did not cause any observable adverse effects or impair either liver or kidney function. Additionally, this study confirmed the beneficial effects of Chun Mee tea extract supplementation on the decrease of total plasma cholesterol.