Characterization and study of the essential mineral components of Spanish commercial herbal products and their infusions

The popularity of herbal infusions is increasing in recent years, mainly because of their health benefits. There are few studies about macroelements and microelements in the different commercial herbal infusions present in the market. The aim of this study was to determine the concentration of some macroelements (Ca, K, Mg and Na) and microelements (Fe, Cu, Mn and Zn) in twenty samples of herbal infusions, and compare them with tea. Most of the relationships between the mineral elements were Positive. The extraction rate was uniform for all the samples. By comparison with tea, the only significant difference was in Ca concentration, which was much lower in tea infusion. Also, as a whole, Mn concentration was much higher in tea. A wide variability was observed both in dry materials and in herbal infusions. The profile of mineral elements was similar in most samples and remained in the herbal infusions. K and Ca were the predominant macroelements, and Fe and Mn the predominant microelements. Fe was the least soluble, and Cu, Zn and Na the most soluble.