Safety of ‘leaves from Morinda citrifolia L.’ - Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies

Abstract

SUMMARYFollowing a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety of dried and roasted leaves from Morinda citrifolia L. intended to be used for the preparation of infusions.After cutting, the leaves of M. citrifolia are subjected to drying and roasting steps. The steps are standard procedures commonly applied in food production and do not give rise to concern. Compositional data on various batches of dried and roasted M. citrifolia leaves from French Polynesia have been provided. The information presented does not indicate detrimental nutritional effects to be expected from the consumption of tea infusions made from dried and roasted M. citrifolia leaves. Under the applied analytical conditions none of the anthraquinones rubiadin, alizarin and lucidin could be detected in dried and roasted M. citrifolia leaves (detection limits 0.25, 0.025 and 0.4 mg/kg) and in infusions (detection limits 1.04, 0.1 and 1.67 µg/l), respectively. 5,15-Dimethylmorindol, an anthraquinone previously isolated from the fruits of M. citrifolia, was shown to be present in dried and roasted M. citrifolia leaves at concentrations ranging from 11.3 to 42.6 mg/kg. In infusions from dried and roasted M. citrifolia leaves contents of 5,15-dimethylmorindol ranging between 5.8 and 20.9 µg/l were determined. On the basis of an average 5,15-dimethylmorindol content of 26.5 ± 11.75 mg/kg in dried and roasted leaves and an average extraction efficiency of 34 %, a total of approximately 9 ± 4 µg 5,15-dimethylmorindol is expected to be present per cup of tea (100 ml). Roasting of M. citrifolia leaves causes 80 and 77 % decreases of the concentrations of the glycosides rutin and kaempferol-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoysyl-(1-6)-ß-D-glucopyranoside, respectively, and 2-and 2.9-fold increases of the corresponding aglycones, quercetin and Safety of Leaves from Morinda citrifolia L.The EFSA Journal (2008) 769, 2-17 quercetin and kaempferol, due to degradation of their glycosidic precursors.Intake values reported for tea in the U.K National Diet and Nutrition Surveys were used to estimate the potential intakes of infusions prepared from dried and roasted M. citrifolia leaves. According to the applicant, infusions are prepared by steeping roasted M. citrifolia leaves (1 g in a tea bag) in 240 ml of hot water at 100 ± 2° C for ten minutes. Applying the total solids content of 0.1 % to the estimated 97.5 th percentile intakes of infusion reveals that the highest ingestion of M. citrifolia leaf material is 1.29 g/d for adult males. This corresponds to a daily intake of 18.4 mg/kg bodyweight (bw), for a 70 kg adult. Applying the same approach to children reveals that the highest ingestion (97.5 th percentile) of M. citrifolia leaf material is 11.5 mg/kg bw for 15 to 18 year old males, assuming a body weight of 60 kg.Acute toxicity studies in rats using aqueous and ethanolic extracts did not give indications of adverse effe...