Traditional Foods and Sustainable Rural Development: Exploiting the Case of the Comoros Tea as a Potential Source of Bioactive Compounds

Abstract

Although modern medicine is available in many developing countries, such as the Comoros Islands, the primary health-care needs of the local population are based on traditional foods and beverages derived from natural resources and medicinal plants for cultural and historical reasons. Aphloia theiformis (Vahl) Benn. (‘Mfandrabo’), Cinnamomum verum J.Presl (‘Mani yamdrara’), Ocimum gratissimum L. (‘Roulé’), Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng. (‘Ynadombwe’), Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle (‘Sandze monach’) and Ocimum americanum L. (‘Kandza’) are six wild plants that are largely utilised to treat many diseases. The leaves of these plants are used in the traditional Comorian tea (aqueous infusion). This study aimed to identify and quantify the main health-promoting compounds in the traditional formulation of Comorian tea by HPLC profiling together with a preliminary assessment of antioxidant capacity to confirm the traditional use of these plants by the local population. The single plants were also studied. The Comoros tea presented a total polyphenolic content (TPC) of 4511.50 ± 74.41 mgGAE/100 g DW, a value higher than the TPCs of the different plants included in the Comorian tea. Moreover, the Comorian tea showed an antioxidant capacity (AOC) of 578.65 ± 6.48 mmol Fe2+/Kg DW, a value higher if compared to all the AOC values obtained in the single plants. The polyphenolic fraction (771.37 ± 35.76 mg/100 g DW) and organic acids (981.40 ± 38.38 mg/100 g DW) were the most important phytochemical classes in the Comorian tea (40.68% and 51.75% of the total phytocomplex, respectively), followed by the monoterpenes (5.88%) and vitamin C (1.67%), while carotenoids were detected in trace (0.02%). The Comorian tea could be important in meeting the high demand in the Comoros Islands and other developing countries for cost-effective and natural health-promoting foods and/or beverages to be produced by agri-food industries and used by the local population. This study may promote traditional foods in rural communities in the Comoros Islands and contribute to sustainable rural development and a commercial valorisation of these plants for health-promoting and food applications.

Integrating Traditional Wheat-Based Foods with High Health Value Flours: Castanea spp. Agro-Biodiversity in Bakery Products

“…Chromatographic separations were performed by a Kinetex-C18 column (4.6 × 150 mm, 5 µm, Phenomenex, Torrance, CA, USA) and a SphereClone-NH 2 column (4.6 × 250 mm, 5 µm, Phenomenex, Torrance, CA, USA). Different HPLC strategies were carried out for the flour analysis according to the conditions described and previously validated by other studies [14][15][16], with few modifications. The external standard calibration method was utilised for quantitative analyte determinations.…”

“…In any case, it is very difficult to assess the real contribution of every single biomolecule to total antioxidant properties due to the "phytocomplex" effect, a combination of synergistic and additive biological effects among the different substances and molecules) [27]. The "phytocomplex" effect may support the statistical differences in the AOC values among the different flours [3,16]; therefore, CFs with the highest contents of TPC (and vitamin C) did not always present the highest AOC (e.g., LUNI and SATI flours).…”

“…Ascorbic and dehydroascorbic acids were considered to evaluate vitamin C content due to their synergistic and additive biological activity in humans, as reported in other studies [16,37,38]. The maximum level of vitamin C was observed in the ANTR, BOUC, and FRIU flours (about 15-16 mg•100 g −1 DW), followed by SATI sample (about 14 mg•100 g −1 DW), while the minimum value was quantified in CANA flour (about 12 mg•100 g −1 DW).…”

Infusions based on medicinal plants and their benefit in metabolic benefit in metabolic syndrome diseases. A systematic review during the years 2016-2021.

“…De acuerdo con la figura 7, se muestran los efectos medicinales encontrados en diferentes plantas herbáceas que han sido utilizados para infusiones, identificándose así con mayor frecuencia los antioxidantes (28.05%), antiinflamatorias (17.07%) y antidiabéticas (9.76%) siendo usadas para contrarrestar algunos daños originados en el cuerpo humano tanto celulares, inflaciones y niveles de glucosa dentro de la sangre. Teniendo esto en cuenta, [33], [17], [19], [34], [35], [36] y [21] mencionaron que la mayoría de las plantas estudiadas en su campo como el clavo, cola de caballo, hierba luisa, cuphea calophylla, hojas de moringa, romero, granada y tomillo de naranja, se consume más en infusiones por sus efectos antioxidantes y antiinflamatorias ya que desempeñan actividades funcionales para contrarrestar diversas enfermedades como muestra en la figura 8.…”

Influencing factors and mechanisms on consumers' behavior: A case of tea tourism in China

“…The present article aims to explore the behavioral intention of tea tourists, that is, the behavioral tendency of tourism consumers to purchase tea tourism-related products. Studying the behavioral intention of tea tourism consumers can have a positive role in analyzing and predicting their purchase behavior (Donno et al, 2021). Therefore, based on the theoretical framework of TPB, this article investigates the factors affecting the purchase intention of tea tourists during their tea tourism behavior.…”