Comparison of the Antioxidant Activities of Fermented Pu-erh Teas with Monascus and/or Lactobacillus plantarum
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Abstract:
The effects of the fermentation with Monascus and/or Lactobacillus plantarum on the biochemical components and antioxidant activities of Pu-erh teas were investigated. The correlation coefficient method was used to analyze the correlation between the main biochemical components and antioxidant indexes. The experiments showed that the contents of water extract, flavonoids and tea polyphenols of the six fermented tea samples were in the range of 50.64%~52.50%, 0.77~0.95 mg/g and 13.21%~11.07%, respectively, with the tea fermented with L.plantarum alone (R) having the highest tea polyphenol content (13.21%). There were significant differences (P<0.05) in the in vitro antioxidant capacity of the tea samples subjected to different treatments. R had the highest total antioxidant capacity, DPPH scavenging rate and hydroxyl radical scavenging rate (10.36 μg Trolox/mL, 91.59%, 29.43%, respectively). The correlation analysis showed that theophyllin and theaflavin were negatively correlated with antioxidant capacity (though not significantly); caffeine, tea polyphenols, theaflavin and total flavonoid indexes were significantly correlated with antioxidant capacity, among which tea polyphenols were highly significantly correlated with total antioxidant capacity and DPPH radical scavenging rate (P<0.01) with the correlation coefficients being 0.74 and 0.95, respectively. The Pu-erh teas fermented with added strains had a relatively strong antioxidant capacity, and the antioxidant capacity of the fermented Pu-erh tea with a single strain was stronger than that with mixed strains, with the R having the highest antioxidant capacity.
