Jasmine, the "queen of flower" is noted for its fragrance. When its fragrance is infused into the leaves of the tea plant, jasmine tea is developed. Its medicinal properties, aroma and taste have been enjoyed by mankind for more than 2000 years.

1. FLOWER AS MEDICINE:
JASMINE
AND
JASMINE TEA
By
Kevin KF Ng, MD, PhD.
Former Associate Professor of Medicine,
Division of Clinical Pharmacology
University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
Email: kevinng68@gmail.com
A Slide Presentation for HealthCare Provider Dec 2019

2. Outline of Lecture
▪ What is jasmine? What is jasmine tea?
▪ History, production
▪ Classification, varieties
▪ Anatomy of jasmine flower
▪ Nutrients, Bioactive compounds
▪ Essential oils, volatile compounds
▪ Bioavailability
▪ Pharmacology
▪ Scientific studies
▪ Summary

3. What is Jasmine?
▪ Jasmine is a plant belonging
to the olive family
▪ The flower is used to
▪ scent green tea leaves
▪ make fragrance
▪ make medicine
▪ It contains about 200 species

4. Other names of Jasmine
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-617/jasmine

5. Origin of Jasmine
▪ The word jasmine is derived from the Arabic word
“yasmin,” which means fragrant flower. Jasmine often
has white or yellow star-shaped flowers that grow on
vines or as shrubbery.
▪ The genus jasmine, botanically named jasminum, is
part of Oleaceae, or olive, family.
▪ Other spellings for jasmine through the ages have
included jessamine, gessamine, jasmin, jessamy and
jeshamy, according to Harvard University's Arnold
Arboretum.
https://www.gardenguides.com/138962-history-jasmine-flower.html

6. What is jasmine tea ?
+
Jasmine tea pearl

7. Differences between Green Tea and Jasmine Tea
1. Green tea refers to the leaves of a tea plant camellia sinesis.
2. Jasmine tea refers to a tea leaf scented with the aroma of
jasmine flower from the Jasminum officinale.
3. Green tea is green in color; jasmine tea is of any color.
4. Jasmine tea is highly fragrant;
5. Jasmine tea is often tasty enough without the need for sugar.
6. Green tea is a bit cheaper than jasmine tea.
https://coffeeandteacorner.com/green-tea-vs-jasmine-tea/

8. Historical milestones of Jasmine Tea
https://www.gardenguides.com/138962-history-jasmine-flower.html

9. Jasmine distribution in tropical and subtropical regions of the world
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasmine

10. Scientific Classification of Jasmine and Tea plants

11. Total number of publications on “green tea” in
PubMed from 1900 - 2018
Total number of publications 29,373
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=green+tea

12. True and False Jasmine
▪ There exists a true Jasmine and a false Jasmine, and the two are
commonly mistaken for each other because of the fragrance the
plants release.
▪ The true Jasmine belongs to the family Oleaceae and is primarily
a bushy shrub or a climbing vine and is non-poisonous.
▪ The false Jasmine on the other hand is in a completely different
genus, Gelsemium, and family, Loganiaceae, which is considered
too poisonous for human consumption.

13. True and False Jasmines
True Jasmines
▪ Jasminum officinale (Common Jasmine)
▪ Jasminum Grandiflorum (Royal Jasmine)
▪ Jasminum Nudiflorum (Winter Jasmine)
▪ Jasminum Sambac (Arabian Jasmine)
▪ Jasminum Fruticans (Wild Jasmine)
▪ Jasminum Polyanthum (Pink Jasmine)
False Jasmines
▪ Trachelospermum Asiaticum (Star Jasmine)
▪ Cestrum Nocturnum (Night-Blooming
Jasmine)
▪ Gardenia Jasminoides (Cape Jasmine)
https://www.homestratosphere.com/types-of-jasmine-flowers/

14. Structure of Jasmine flower
https://www.britannica.com/plant/jasmine-plant

15. Jasmine species commonly used to add
fragrance to Jasmine Tea:
▪ Jasminum officinale - the Common Jasmine
▪ Jasminum sambac - the Sampaguita

16. Jasmine tea: manufacture and commercial products
▪ Jasmine tea is typically made using flower blossoms from
two types of the jasmine plant:
▪ Common Jasmine
▪ Sampaguita
▪ Jasmine flowers are intensely fragrant and native to the
Middle East and Asia. These flowers are commonly grown
in India, Nepal, China, Florida, France, and Portugal.
▪ Jasmine green tea is available in several different forms:
▪ loose leaf teas
▪ powders
▪ jasmine pearls—hand rolled balls that slowly unfurl when infused in
water
▪ tea bags
https://www.cupandleaf.com/blog/jasmine-green-tea

17. Process of making Jasmine Tea
1. Tea leaves are harvested in the early spring and stored until the late summer
when fresh jasmine flowers are in bloom.
2. Jasmine flowers are picked early in the day when the small petals are tightly
closed. The flowers are kept cool until nightfall. During the night, jasmine
flowers open, releasing their fragrance. This is when the tea scenting takes
place.
3. Two main methods are used to scent the tea leaves with jasmine flowers.
1. In one method the tea leaves and flowers are placed in alternating layers.
2. In the other, the tea leaves are blended with jasmine flowers and stored overnight.
4. It takes over four hours for the tea to absorb the fragrance and flavour of the
jasmine blossoms. The scenting process may be repeated as many as six or
seven times for top grades such as Yin Hao. The tea absorbs moisture from
the fresh Jasmine flowers so it must be dried again to prevent spoilage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasmine_tea

18. How to prepare a cup of Jasmine Tea
To brew the perfect cup of jasmine green tea:
▪ Start with high quality jasmine tea
▪ Use about 2 grams (1 teaspoonful) of loose leaf tea for
every 8 ounces of water
▪ Add hot water at 80°C (176°F)
▪ Steep for 1-2 minutes
▪ The infusions can be repeated 3-5 times

19. Nutrient composition of jasmine scented tea, jasmine flower:
100 ml made from tea bag
https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/501363/nutrients

20. What does a Green Tea Leaf contain?
http://greentealovers.com/greenteahealthcatechin.htm

21. Bioactive compounds of Jasmine flower (Jasminum sambac L.)
Methanol extract Ethanol extract
http://impactfactor.org/PDF/IJCPR/7/IJCPR,Vol7,Issue3,Article7.pdf

22. Analysis of major bioactive compounds for Jasmine flower by
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) (2018)
▪ 2-Phenylthiolane (57.31%),
▪ Cyclohexene 3-ethenyl (25.91%),
▪ Acetaldehyde (12.70%),
▪ N-Methylallylamine (9.99%),
▪ Propanamide (6.79%) and
▪ Phthalic acid, bis (7-methyloctyl) ester (5.21%)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325675523_Analysis_of_bioactive_comp
ounds_for_Jasmine_flower_via_Gas_chromatography-mass_spectrometry_GC-MS

23. Yield Optimization and Supercritical CO2 Extraction of
Essential Oil from Jasmine Flower
▪ Optimal yield of oil from Jasmine flower was 12.18% mg
oil extracted/100 g dry flower.
▪ A total number of six chemical compounds were
tentatively identified in the Jasmine flower extracted oil.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332399748_Yield_Optimization_
and_Supercritical_CO2_Extraction_of_Essential_Oil_from_Jasmine_Flower

24. Chemical composition of jasmine essential oil
Major chemicals Trace chemicals
https://articles.mercola.com/herbal-oils/jasmine-absolute-oil.aspx

25. Volatile Odorants in scented jasmine tea
▪ Out of 34 enhanced volatiles in the scented tea, β-ionone, β-linalool, indole, and
methyl anthranilate were the most potent odorants with 5.1–45.2-fold higher odor
activity values than the corresponding controls in the nonscented tea.
▪ Scenting efficiencies for the floral volatiles retained in the scented tea (the
percentage of volatile abundance over its corresponding amount in jasmine flowers)
ranged from 0.22% for α-farnesene to 75.5% for β-myrcene
▪ Due to additional rounds of heat treatment for scented green tea manufacturing,
some volatiles such as carotenoid-derived geraniol and β-ionone and lipid-derived
()-jasmone were heat-enhanced and others such as nonanal were heat-desorbed in
the scented green tea.
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jfq/2017/5849501/

26. Six Potent Odorants in Chinese Jasmine Green Tea
Scented with Flowers of Jasminum sambac (2002)
Among the 66 compounds identified by GC and GC/MS, 6 were potent odorants:
1. linalool (floral),
2. methyl anthranilate (grape-like),
3. 4-hexanolide (sweet),
4. 4-nonanolide (sweet),
5. (E)-2-hexenyl hexanoate (green), and
6. 4-hydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-3(2H)-furanone (sweet).
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jf020282h

27. Cysteine-Rich Peptides: a new family of jasmintides isolated
from Jasminum sambac (2015)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283718591

28. New bioactive compounds (jasmintides) in jasmine
flowers, leaves and stems (2015)
▪ Two 27-amino acid jasmintides (jS1 and jS2) were
identified at the gene and protein levels
▪ They showed:
▪ High heat resistance
▪ High proteolytic degradation resistance
▪ Cytotoxic activity
▪ Hemolytic activity
▪ Antimicrobial activity
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26555361

29. Recent discovery of jasmintides from jasmine
flowers, leaves and roots of jasminum sambac (2018)
https://bmcplantbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12870-018-1361-y
▪ Background
▪ Jasmintides jS1 and jS2 from Jasminum sambac were previously identified as a novel family of cysteine-rich peptides
(CRPs) with an unusual disulfide connectivity. However, very little else is known about jasmintides, particularly their
molecular diversity and functions. Here, we report the discovery and characterization of a novel suite of jasmintides
from J. sambac using transcriptomic, peptidomic, structural and functional tools.
▪ Results
▪ Transcriptomic analysis of leaves, flowers and roots revealed 14 unique jasmintide precursors, all of which possess a
three-domain architecture comprising a signal peptide, a pro-domain and a mature jasmintide domain. Peptidomic
analysis, using fractionated mixtures of jasmintides and chemical derivatization of cysteine to pseudolysine, trypsin
digestion and MS/MS sequencing, revealed an additional 86 jasmintides, some of which were post-translationally
modified. NMR analysis showed that jasmintide jS3 has three anti-parallel β-strands with a three-disulfide connectivity of
CysI−CysV, CysII−CysIV and CysIII−CysVI, which is similar to jasmintide jS1. Jasmintide jS3 was able to withstand thermal,
acidic and enzymatic degradation and, importantly, exhibited antifeedant activity against mealworm Tenebrio molitor.
▪ Conclusion Jasmintide jS3 was able to withstand thermal, acidic and enzymatic degradation and, importantly, exhibited
antifeedant activity
▪ Together, this study expands the existing library of jasmintides and furthers our understanding of the molecular diversity
and cystine framework of CRPs as scaffolds and tools for engineering peptides targeting pests.

30. Volatile chemicals present in the fresh jasmine flowers.
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jfq/2017/5849501/fig3/

31. Volatile chemicals present in scented tea.
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jfq/2017/5849501/fig3/
ST: scented green tea infusion; NT: nonscented tea infusion

32. Odor activity values (OVA) of volatiles (>1) found in the infusions of
scented (ST) and nonscented (NT) green teas and jasmine flowers (JF)
Volatiles with high OAVs
Volatiles with low OAVs.
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jfq/2017/5849501/fig2/

33. What happens when the jasmine tea pearl is brewed?
Aroma (highly fragrant)
Infused tea (subtly sweet)
Tea pearl

34. The effect of aroma and taste of jasmine tea on the brain
Adapted from http://winesutra.in/tag/flavor/#.XcnJKFdKiUk

35. Bioavailability of jasmine tea components
https://www.youtube.com/watch/?reload=9&v=lKSUsD_RBHU

36. Bioavailability of catechins from tea leaves:
Adapted from https://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/60659.pdf
5-10%
90-95%
microbiome

37. General biological actions of jasmine tea

38. Suppression of puerperal lactation using jasmine flowers
(Jasminum sambac) (1988).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3214386

39. Jasmine flower extract lowers prolactin (2015)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25505191

40. Anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anti-pyretic activities of
standardized root extract of Jasminum sambac (2015)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25479154?dopt=Abstract

41. Effects of ethanolic extract of Jasminum grandiflorum Linn.
flowers on wound healing in diabetic Wistar albino rats. 2017
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5641414/figure/F1/

42. Effects of jasmine tea on cancers
▪ Studies of effects of jasmine tea on human cancer
are limited.
▪ Most studies were done with green tea on the
following cancers:
▪ Breast cancer
▪ Prostate cancer
▪ Stomach cancer
▪ Colon cancer
▪ The results of clinical studies were mixed. More
research needs to be done.

43. Jasmine tea consumption and upper
gastrointestinal cancer in China (2011)
▪ Epidemiological data on green/jasmine tea and esophageal as well as gastric cancer are limited and
inconclusive. In order to study the effect of jasmine tea in upper gastrointestinal (UGI) cancers, we
evaluated 600 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), 598 gastric cardia adenocarcinoma
(GCA), and 316 gastric non-cardia adenocarcinoma (GNCA) cases and 1514 age-, gender-, and
neighborhood-matched controls. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were
estimated from logistic regression adjusted for matching factors and potential confounders. Among
controls, 35% of males and 8% of females reported consumption of jasmine tea; other tea
consumption was rare. Consumption of jasmine tea (ever vs. never) was not associated with risk of
ESCC (OR=1.15, 95% CI 0.92–1.44), GCA (OR=1.14, 95% CI 0.88–1.37), or GNCA (OR=0.85, 95% CI
0.64–1.15) in males and females combined. Among males, cumulative lifetime consumption showed a
significant positive dose-response relation with ESCC risk, but not for GCA and GNCA. In exploratory
analyses, occupation affected the relation between tea and ESCC such that consumption in males was
associated with increased risk only in non-office workers. Overall, we found no evidence for a
protective effect of tea in esophageal or gastric cancer. Further studies of the potential effects of
thermal damage, tea quality, and water quality on UGI cancers are suggested
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3236106/

44. Current use of jasmine flower

45. Current use of jasmine essential oil
▪ Jasmine essential oil is widely used in perfumery and
fragrances
▪ for cosmetics and
▪ toiletries to impart unique floral scents
▪ In traditional holistic medicine and in aromatherapy jasmine
is considered one of the most effective products to
▪ relieve stress
▪ relieve anxiety
▪ relieve depression
▪ reduce fatigue.
▪ It can be used also as an antiseptic (also anti-viral) and as
an anti-inflammatory agent.
https://www.perfumerflavorist.com/fragrance/rawmaterials/natural/Jasmine-An-Overview-of-its-Essential-Oils--Sources-
504866941.html?utm_source=Most+Read&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=Most+Read

46. Current use of jasmine tea
▪ Flavored beverage
▪ Possible health benefits:
▪ Weight loss
▪ Prevent cancer
▪ Prevent diabetes
▪ Prevent heart disease
▪ Relieve anxiety
▪ Reduce depression

47. Evidence-based Medicine
▪ Mental alertness
▪ Liver problems such as hepatitis and cirrhosis.
▪ Increasing sexual desire (as an aphrodisiac).
▪ Cancer treatment.
▪ Mental relaxation (as a sedative).
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-617/jasmine
Insufficient Evidence to support the use of jasmine tea for:

48. Safety issues
▪ Jasmine tea is a safe beverage.
▪ There is not enough scientific information to determine
an appropriate range of doses for jasmine.
▪ No information is available on interaction between
jasmine tea and drugs.
▪ There is not enough information about the safety of
taking jasmine in medicinal amounts during pregnancy
and breast-feeding.

49. Some delicious jasmine flower recipe

50. Summary
▪ Jasmine is a plant belonging to the olive family
▪ The fragrance of Jasmine flower is used to scent green tea
leaves to make Jasmine Tea.
▪ The bioactive ingredients in jasmine tea have been investigated
for their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer
properties.
▪ A new family of bioactive compounds called jasmintides have
recently been discovered.
▪ Jasmine tea is a safe beverage; its aroma and taste has been
enjoyed for the last two thousand years.

51. ANY QUESTION?
Please contact
Kevin KF Ng, MD, PhD
Email: kevinng68@gmail.com
51