Striking changes in tea metabolites due to elevational effects

Nicole Kfoury; Joshua Morimoto; Amanda Kern; Eric R Scott; Colin M Orians; Selena Ahmed; Timothy Griffin; Sean B Cash; John Richard Stepp; Dayuan Xue; Chunlin Long; Albert Robbat Jr

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.05.040

Striking changes in tea metabolites due to elevational effects

Food Chem. 2018 Oct 30:264:334-341. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.05.040. Epub 2018 May 7.

Authors

Nicole Kfoury¹, Joshua Morimoto², Amanda Kern³, Eric R Scott⁴, Colin M Orians⁵, Selena Ahmed⁶, Timothy Griffin⁷, Sean B Cash⁸, John Richard Stepp⁹, Dayuan Xue¹⁰, Chunlin Long¹⁰, Albert Robbat Jr¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA; Tufts University Sensory and Science Center, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
² Department of Chemistry, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
³ Tufts University Sensory and Science Center, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
⁴ Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
⁵ Tufts University Sensory and Science Center, Medford, MA 02155, USA; Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
⁶ Department of Health and Human Development, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA.
⁷ Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
⁸ Tufts University Sensory and Science Center, Medford, MA 02155, USA; Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
⁹ Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
¹⁰ College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing, China.
¹¹ Department of Chemistry, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA; Tufts University Sensory and Science Center, Medford, MA 02155, USA. Electronic address: albert.robbat@tufts.edu.

PMID: 29853384
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.05.040

Abstract

Climate effects on crop quality at the molecular level are not well-understood. Gas and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry were used to measure changes of hundreds of compounds in tea at different elevations in Yunnan Province, China. Some increased in concentration while others decreased by 100's of percent. Orthogonal projection to latent structures-discriminant analysis revealed compounds exhibiting analgesic, antianxiety, antibacterial, anticancer, antidepressant, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-stress, and cardioprotective properties statistically (p = 0.003) differentiated high from low elevation tea. Also, sweet, floral, honey-like notes were higher in concentration in the former while the latter displayed grassy, hay-like aroma. In addition, multivariate analysis of variance showed low elevation tea had statistically (p = 0.0062) higher concentrations of caffeine, epicatechin gallate, gallocatechin, and catechin; all bitter compounds. Although volatiles represent a small fraction of the total mass, this is the first comprehensive report illustrating how normal variations in temperature, 5 °C, due to elevational effects impact tea quality.

Keywords: Climate change; Elevation; GC/MS; LC/MS; Metabolomics; Tea quality.

MeSH terms

Caffeine / analysis
Catechin / analogs & derivatives
Catechin / analysis
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
Discriminant Analysis
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
Least-Squares Analysis
Mass Spectrometry
Olfactometry
Tea / chemistry*
Tea / metabolism
Temperature
Volatile Organic Compounds / analysis*
Volatile Organic Compounds / metabolism

Substances

Tea
Volatile Organic Compounds
Caffeine
Catechin
epicatechin gallate
gallocatechol