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Introduction: The population is more concerned about their health; however, they are strongly influenced by non-health professionals. There is a strong influence on the act of going shopping and modifying the diet, as well as the recommendation and search for products, such as encapsulated vitamins, minerals, herbal medicines and teas, not taking into account their individuality, which are used indiscriminately due to influence. strong commercial appeal. Objective: Investigate knowledge about nutrition and the influence of information media. Materials and Methods: The current work was carried out through an online questionnaire with 125 customers of a natural products store. Results: 92% of the evaluated sample were women, 95.2% of the participants claimed to have bought a product after viewing it on social networks, however, their nutritionist knowledge can be questioned when 44% of the interviewees say that coconut flour has a low content. lipid. When it comes to diuretic teas, 64% of the sample obtained indications from digital influencers to use them. Conclusion: There is a high number of information received from unreliable sources, despite the high level of education in general, the questions about the proximate composition of foods had several misunderstandings, however when referring to general terms about food the results obtained were favorable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this work, it was evaluated the phenolic content, redox behavior and antioxidant capacity of several selected teas and tisanes from Brazilian market. The samples were classified as simple (single herb) or composed (blend of two or more herbs). In addition, complementary multivariate statistical approaches were used to identify the correlation and interdependence between the amount of major phytocomponents, such as phenols and flavonoids, as well as the antioxidant activity of the products. Results showed that the total polyphenol and total flavonoid concentrations are correlated to thermodynamic feasibility of reactive oxygen species reduction. The statistical modeling differentiated the results datasets in principal components, whose flavonoid content presented itself as the main parameter to segregate data between simple and composed products. On the other hand, the whole polyphenol content, in both teas and tisanes, was more relevant regarding their antioxidant capacity than the flavonoids content. Considering that the manufactures do not display the real amount of each herb in the labels of the composed products, it was not possible to confirm whether the blends of several species lead to a substantial enhancement on their antioxidant capacity. Furthermore, the redox profile and overall polyphenol content suggest that the consumption of green and black teas as well as traditional yerba mate may be worthwhile in preventing ailments associated with oxidative stress in Brazilian population. Notwithstanding, further clinical studies are required to validate this hypothesis.

This paper seeks to clarify notions of phytomedicines by differing them from herbal teas, plants and the like. It also approaches a legislation analysis on phytomedicines in Brazil and in the European Community (EC). Finally, the paper will bring up the issue of biodiversity utilization in Brazil in a scenario dominated by multinational pharmaceutical firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]