Tea Polyphenols
Tea polyphenols is the trade name for the purified phenolic fraction of Camellia sinensis leaf, sold as a bulk antioxidant and supplement ingredient. It is a mixture rather than a single compound, and its composition depends on the leaf it was made from: green tea material is dominated by catechins, chiefly epigallocatechin gallate, epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate and epicatechin, while black tea material carries theaflavins and thearubigins formed when those catechins were enzymatically coupled during oxidation.
Functionally the fraction is a strong hydrogen-donating antioxidant and a metal chelator, which is why it is used to slow lipid oxidation in fats, oils and meat as well as being taken as a supplement. It is astringent and bitter in the mouth, and it precipitates protein, so the inclusion level in protein-containing foods is limited by haze and texture rather than by the antioxidant requirement.
The powder is off-white through light tan to brown depending on grade, hygroscopic, and soluble in water, ethanol and warm aqueous systems. Stability in solution depends on pH and oxygen: the catechins are reasonably stable below pH 4 and oxidise, epimerise and brown above about pH 6, faster with heat and in the presence of iron or copper.
We source bulk Tea Polyphenols from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturers are mostly in Jiangsu. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
Please send the grade you need, the volume and your destination port, and we will come back with a solution and a price.
or call +86-21-6858 0751
- Function
- Plant extract
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Off-white to light tan fine powder, hygroscopic |
| Total polyphenols (HPLC) | 95.0 percent minimum |
| Total catechins | 70.0 percent minimum |
| EGCG | 45.0 percent minimum |
| Identification | HPLC profile conforms to green tea catechin reference |
| Caffeine | 1.0 percent maximum |
| Loss on drying | 5.0 percent maximum |
| Residue on ignition | 1.0 percent maximum |
| pH (1 percent aqueous solution) | 4.5 to 6.5 |
| Residual solvents (ethanol) | 5000 mg/kg maximum |
| Lead | 2.0 mg/kg maximum |
| Arsenic | 1.0 mg/kg maximum |
| Total plate count | 1000 cfu/g maximum |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
Grades are quoted as a set of related figures rather than a single assay. A standard article is 95 percent total polyphenols with 60 to 80 percent catechins and 35 to 50 percent epigallocatechin gallate, while lower-cost grades run 50 to 80 percent polyphenols. Caffeine content is specified separately, since concentrating the polyphenols concentrates the caffeine, and decaffeinated grades below 1 percent or below 0.5 percent are produced by resin, ethyl acetate or carbon dioxide treatment.
Buyers should check whether the polyphenol figure is by an HPLC method or by a colourimetric total-phenol method, because the latter reads higher for identical material and the difference between grades is often a difference of method. Colour is a practical grading criterion for food use, since darker oxidised grades tint the product they are added to. Water-soluble instantised powders, oil-dispersible grades prepared by esterification or emulsification for use in fats, and encapsulated forms are all traded, along with theaflavin-enriched black tea grades sold as a separate article.
Applications
- Antioxidant in edible oils and fats, where the polyphenols slow the development of peroxides
- Meat, poultry and fish products, delaying lipid oxidation and colour loss during storage
- Bakery and fried snack products where fat rancidity limits shelf life
- Green tea catechin supplements in capsule and tablet form
- Weight management and metabolic support formulas
- Functional beverages formulated below pH 4 to keep the catechins intact
- Oral care products including mouthwash and toothpaste for astringency and antimicrobial action
- Skin care formulations at acidic pH positioned on antioxidant claims
- Feed applications as an oxidation inhibitor in fat-containing rations
- Chewing gum and confectionery for breath and astringency effects
Brands Using Tea Polyphenols
Widely-distributed consumer products that list Tea Polyphenols on the ingredient label.
Brand names, product names and logos are the property of their owners. They appear here as published evidence that the ingredient is used, taken from the brand's own label or website. Their appearance is not an endorsement, and it does not mean the brand buys from us or from any manufacturer listed on this site.
China Manufacturers of Tea Polyphenols
Top Tea Polyphenols manufacturers in China.
- Taiping Mountain Snow Top1 ingredient in the directory
Wuxi Century Bio-engineering Co., Ltd.5 ingredients in the directory
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
In the United States green tea extracts and tea polyphenol preparations are used as dietary ingredients in supplements, and green tea extract has been the subject of GRAS notifications for use in beverages and foods at defined levels, which is the basis on which it is used as an antioxidant in conventional foods. There is no food additive regulation naming tea polyphenols as a class. The FDA declined to authorise unqualified health claims linking green tea to reduced cancer risk, permitting only heavily qualified language, and the liver safety of high catechin intakes has received regulatory attention.
In the European Union tea polyphenol preparations are not authorised as food additives and therefore carry no E number, which distinguishes them from the synthetic antioxidants they compete with. Their use is as food ingredients or, in supplements, subject to the food safety authority assessment that concluded high doses of epigallocatechin gallate from concentrated preparations are associated with liver injury. Health claims for tea catechins are not authorised. Codex has not adopted a specification for tea polyphenols as an additive, and the general Codex provisions on contaminants and on pesticide residues in tea apply to the raw material.
Manufacturing Process
The feedstock is green tea leaf, leaf fines, or the fannings and dust fractions left over from tea grading, which makes the process an outlet for material that would otherwise have little value. The leaf is extracted with hot water or aqueous ethanol at moderate temperature, kept short because prolonged hot extraction degrades the catechins it is meant to recover. The liquor is separated from spent leaf by filtration and decanter centrifuge, chilled so that tea cream precipitates, and clarified.
Where decaffeination is required it is done at this stage, by passing the liquor over a selective adsorption resin, by countercurrent contact with ethyl acetate, or by treating the leaf with supercritical carbon dioxide before extraction. Enrichment is then carried out on macroporous adsorption resin, which binds the polyphenols while sugars, amino acids, salts and much of the colour pass through; graded alcohol elution recovers the polyphenol fraction and sets the assay. The eluate is concentrated under vacuum at low temperature, standardised by blending against an HPLC assay, and spray dried or freeze dried at a controlled outlet temperature. The powder is sieved and packed under nitrogen in foil laminate, since it takes up moisture and oxidises in open air.
