-Introduction.Among different fruit species, aronia have attracted a great attention because of its wide range of protective effects with potential benefits for human health. Furthermore, the consumption of products of aronia (juice, tea, berries) is becoming a part of a healthy lifestyle. Materials and Methods. The multi-element characterization of products of aronia has been carried out using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). Results and Discussion. Among the major elements, the most abundant are K, Ca and P, followed by the Mg and Na. Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, Bi and Si are the most abundant among the microelements. In terms of heavy metals (As, Cd, Pb), it can be concluded that the concentrations of them are below permissible levels (PLs) prescribed by national legislation in all samples. The chemometric techniques of principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were used to differentiation of products aronia according to their metal content. The application of PCA and CA was resulted in two clusters with similarities in the mineral composition. The first cluster includes tea bag samples (T1-T6). The second cluster includes berries (B1, B2), juices (J1-J4) and leaves (L). Conclusion. Data obtained in this study showed that analyzed products are potentially a rich source of some dietary metals such are K, Ca, P, Mg, Na, Fe and Zn. Obtained results could be also used as selection criteria for further use of products of aronia as a part of conventional diet.

In the present paper, multi-element characterisation of 26 bagged teas was carried out using inductively-coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Na, K, Ca and Mg were the metals with major contents. Among the essential elements, Fe and Zn were the most abundant, followed by Se, Cu, Mo and Cr. The tea bag samples also contained significant contents of Mn and Al. The chemometric techniques of linear correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were used for differentiation of the tea bag samples according to their metal content. The samples analysed were classified into four groups by PCA and CA. The first group includes hibiscus, nettle, mint, rtanj tea, thyme, bearberry and sage. Green and black teas are in the second group. The third group contains strawberry, lime, pineapple, pomegranate, elder, blueberry, milfoil, apricot and chamomile. Exotic fruits, sweet cherry, forest fruits, apple, St John’s wort, rose hips, cherry and raspberry are in the fourth group.

ACTA FACULTATIS MEDICAE NAISSENSISUDC:634.74:543:615.27 S U M M A R YWhile there is a large number of scientific papers reporting chemical composition and biological activities of Aronia melanocarpa, there is a lack information regarding the commercially available bagged tea. In order to supply new information on the antioxidant activity of the Aronia melanocarpa tea infusions, the aim of this study was to evaluate individual phenolic compounds which could be responsible for antioxidant activities of these beverages.Selected anthocyanins (cyanidin-3-O-galactoside, cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, cyanidin-3-O-arabinoside, and cyanidin-3-O-xyloside), gallic acid, caffeic acid, rutin, morin, and protocatechuic acid were simultaneously detected from commercially available tea infusions using a High Performance Liquid Chromatographic (HPLC) method. The antioxidant activity was measured using five in vitro spectrophotometric methods: 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) radical cation scavenging activity (ABTS), ferric reducing-antioxidant power (FRAP) and reduction power (RP)Fe(III) to Fe(II).Obtained results showed that anthocyanins, predominantly of cyanidin-3-O-galactoside, are the major class of polyphenolic compounds in tea infusions. Among phenolic acids the most abundant is caffeic acid. A significant correlation between DPPH and ABTS and FRAP and RP suggested that antioxidant components in these beverages were capable scavenging free radicals and reducing oxidants.Generally, these beverages had relatively high antioxidant capacities and could be important dietary sources of antioxidant phenolics for the prevention of diseases caused by oxidative stress.