Superfood Vitality

MORE INFORMATION

What Is Rooibos?

Botanical Description:
Rooibos is a shrubby legume that is indigenous to the mountains of South Africa’s Western Cape.The genus Aspalathus includes more than 200 species native to South Africa.

Historical Background:
More than 300 years ago, indigenous inhabitants of the mountainous regions of South Africa’s Western Cape were the first to collect wild rooibos and use it to make tea. These people discovered that they could brew a sweet, tasty tea from rooibos leaves and
stems that they cut, bruised with wooden hammers, fermented in heaps, and then sun-dried. WesternBotanists first recorded rooibos plants in 1772 when they were introduced to the tea by the Khoi people.

Standards:
The Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB) of South Africa ensures that all exported rooibos products pass a phytosanitary inspection and are certified to be free of bacteria and impurities. In order to pass these health and safety tests, rooibos producers steam pasteurize the tea as the final step before packing. Organic Rooibos is also monitored by various international organizations that provide organic certification, such as the German firms Ecocert and Lacon.

The traditional fermented tea is processed today in much the same way as the indigenouspeople processed it hundreds of years ago, including the sundrying step, but the tools are more sophisticated now. The fermented type is called red tea because fermentation turns
the leaves and the resulting tea a rich orange/red color; this distinctive color led to the Afrikaans name rooibos, which means “red bush.”

Antioxidants in SunnRooibos:
Free radicals (unstable molecules that have lost an electron) can damage the DNA in cells, leading to cancer, and they can oxidize cholesterol, leading to clogged blood vessels, heart attack, and stroke. Antioxidants can bind to free radicals before the free radicals
cause harm. Some antioxidants are called polyphenols because these substances contain a phenolic ring in their chemical structure. Polyphenols are common in plants; they act as pigments and sunscreens, as insect attractants and repellants, and as antimicrobials and antioxidants. The polyphenol group is further divided into subgroups such as flavonoids and phenolic acids. Polyphenols can also be classified as monomeric (molecules containing a single unit) or polymeric (larger molecules containing more than one unit). Laboratory studies have found that rooibos tea contains polyphenol antioxidants, including flavonoids and phenolic acids, that are potent free radical scavengers.

Flavonoids:
The polyphenol antioxidants identified in rooibos tea include the monomeric flavonoids aspalathin, nothofagin, quercetin, rutin, isoquercitrin, orientin, isoorientin, luteolin, vitexin, isovitexin, and chrysoeriol. Currently, Rooibos is the only known natural source of aspalathin.*

*HerbalGram Number 59, "Rooibos Tea, Research into Antioxidant and Antimutagenic Properties" by Laurie Erickson

MORE INFO