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Martinez-Saez, NuriaAuthor

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May 5, 2022
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Teas and herbal infusions as sources of melatonin and other bioactive non-nutrient components

Publicated to: LWT-FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. 89 65-73 - 2018-03-01 89(), DOI: 10.1016/j.lwt.2017.10.031

Authors:

Herrera, Teresa; Aguilera, Yolanda; Rebollo-Hernanz, Miguel; Bravo, Elena; Benitez, Vanesa; Martinez-Saez, Nuria; Arribas, Silvia M; Dolores del Castillo, Maria; Martin-Cabrejas, Maria A
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Affiliations

Univ Autonoma Madrid, CIAL CSIC UAM, Inst Invest Ciencias Alimentac, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma Madrid, Fac Ciencias, Dept Quim Agr & Bromatol, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma Madrid, Fac Med, Dept Fisiol, Madrid, Spain - Author
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Abstract

The consumption of teas and herbal infusions has increased in Europe and the USA in recent years. The goal of this work was to provide new knowledge on the contents of melatonin and other bioactive non-nutrient compounds of nineteen highly consumed herbal infusions. Melatonin was previously assessed in some medicinal plants alcoholic extracts but not described in herbal aqueous infusions as we reported for the first time. Noticeable melatonin contents were found in most of herbal infusions, showing chamomile and green tea the highest values. These studied herbal infusions could be considered as potential dietary sources of this antioxidant compound, and they also exhibited high levels of total phenolic compounds and total flavonoids (lemon balm revealed the highest contents). From results, the total phenolic compounds and total flavonoids were associated with the inhibition of lipase and a-glucosidase, as well as to the in vitro antioxidant capacity measured through five different methods (DPPH, ARTS, FRAP, ORAC, and deoxyribose assays). Thus, the studied teas and herbal infusions could be consided as suitable drinks herein validated for their bioactive compounds that may act as antioxidants and non-protein inhibitors of digestive enzymes, promoting health-promoting properties.
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Keywords

Antioxidant capacitiesAntioxidant capacityChromatographyEnzyme inhibitorsGerminationIngestionInhibitory-activitiesL.MelatoninPeptidesPhenolic compoundsPhenolic-compoundsProteinsRelevantTeas and herbal infusions

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal LWT-FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2018, it was in position 23/135, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Food Science & Technology.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.5. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 13, 2025)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 1.61 (source consulted: FECYT Mar 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2026-04-03, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 41
  • Scopus: 48
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-03:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 93.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 93 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 46.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 2 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions in news outlets: 5 (Altmetric).
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Awards linked to the item

This research was financially supported by Second Call for Interuniversity Cooperation Projects University Autonoma de Madrid and Santander Bank with the United States (2013-2014) and AGL2014-57239R. M. Rebollo-Hernanz and N. Martinez-Saez thank the FPU predoctoral program of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (FPU15/04238) and the FPI predoctoral program of the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), respectively.
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