title: Estimation of Potential Availability of Essential Oil in Some Brands of Herbal Teas and Herbal Dietary Supplements.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of the study was to estimate potential availability of essential oil in some brands of herbal products.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comparison was performed on the basis of the essential oil yield in the unprocessed raw materials such as leaves of peppermint and lemon balm and inflorescence of chamomile as well as herbal tea bags and in dietary supplements. The yield of essential oil was determined by distillation. Essential oil was analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was found that the average potential availability of essential oils in the products such as dietary supplements for the doses recommended by the producers is lower than in the corresponding tea infusions: for peppermint formulations approximately 6-fold lower, for the formulations with lemon balm about 4-fold lower, and for the chamomile preparations about 3-fold lower. It was found that essential oils extracted from herbal teas have a similar chemical profile with characteristic deviations in the amount of individual components, which arise from the origin of the raw material.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In contrast to homogenous pharmaceutical herbal mixtures consistent with, the Pharmacopoeia requirements, herbal teas (available in grocery stores) and dietary supplements are often out of control in terms of the yield and composition of the essential oil, which is primarily responsible for the health benefits and aromatic qualities of these products. Analysis of the composition of the dietary supplements showed that they contain on average significantly lower amounts of plant material compared to the herbal teas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Analysis and Evaluation of Food Quality, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Lublin, Poland; Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lublin, Poland.
authors.forename: Radosław
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kowalski
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy with Medicinal Plant Unit, Medical University in Lublin, Lublin, Poland.
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baj
authors.affiliation: Central Laboratory of Agroecology, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Lublin, Poland.
authors.forename: Grażyna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kowalska
authors.affiliation: Department of Analysis and Evaluation of Food Quality, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Lublin, Poland.
authors.forename: Urszula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Pankiewicz
mesh_terms: D019587:Dietary Supplements / Q000032:analysis*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000032:analysis*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000032:analysis*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D000069459:Teas, Herbal / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D009822:Oils, Volatile; D010936:Plant Extracts; D000069459:Teas, Herbal