Comparison of Anti-oxidative Activity in a Single Serving Size of the Commercial Coffees and Teas

The aim of this work was to study the comparison of anti-oxidative activity in a single serving size of commercial coffees and teas. Commercial regular coffees and teas, including, brand regular coffees (BCA, BCB, BCC, BCD, and BCE), green tea (GTA, GTB, GTC, and GTD), black tea (BTA, BTB, and BTC), pu-erh tea (PTA, PTB, and PTC), chamomile tea (CTA, CTB, and CTC), peppermint tea (PA, PB, and PC), polygonatum odoratum tea (POTA, POTB, and POTC), and jujube tea (JTA, JTB, and JTC) were assayed for the levels of ascorbic acid, caffeine, total content of polyphenols and flavonoids, and ability to scavenge free radicals, using two in vitro antioxidant assays. The scavenging abilities of BCA and BCC were 664.91 ± 48.87 mg ascorbic acid equivalent/serving size and 624.36 ± 16.18 mg ascorbic acid equivalent/serving size, respectively. The four beverage samples (BCA, BCC, GTD, and BTA) significantly reduced the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and intracellular oxidative stress induced by H2O2. These results suggest that the beverages possess significant radical scavenging ability, which may be due to the presence of antioxidants. Furthermore, the significant reducing level of ROS evidences the potential antioxidant effects of these beverages in human cells.