Phytochemical, antibacterial and free radical scavenging activities of a local antimalaria tea from Nigeria.

Malaria is a reoccurring disease which affects about 296 million people globally. In countries where the people are overly attached to their culture like Nigeria, most of the population depends on local antimalaria remedies. One of such remedy is a tea of Citrus aurantifolia (leaves and peels), Psidium guajava (leaves) and Ocimum gratissimum (scent leaf) in alcohol. This study was aimed at determining the phytochemical, antibacterial and free radical scavenging activity of the methanol extract of this antimalaria tea, in order to determine the effect of its consumption on the human body. The phytochemical screening results showed the presence of compounds such as flavonoids, phenol, alkaloids and terpenoids amongst others. The extract also showed good antibacterial activity against S. aureus. The antioxidant activity results indicated that the lowest dose (0.25 mg/mL) of the tea had moderate antioxidant activity (62%) as compared with that of the standard antioxidant used. The highest dose level on the other hand had a very poor antioxidant activity (-7%). The results indicates that though consumption of the antimalaria tea may reduce the microbial load of S aureus in the body, excessive consumption of the antimalaria tea could lead to long term neurological or cell damage in the human body because of the ability of the tea to generate free radicals when taken in high concentration.