Penthorum chinense Pursh leaf tea debittering mechanisms via green tea manufacturing process and its influence on NAFLD-alleviation activities.

[Display omitted] • Green tea manufacturing process improved Penthorum chinense leaf tea (PLT) flavor for beverages. • Grassy odor reduced due to dodecanal and geranylacetone decrease with 1-hexadecanol increasing. • Bitterness was weakened by flavonols reduction and masked by increased dihydrochalcones. • Increasing of pinocembrins and catechins maintained the NAFLD-alleviation effects of PLT. • New-identified functional agents: norbergenin, gomisin K2, pseudolaric acid B and tanshinol B. The green-tea manufacturing process showed good effect of flavor improving, debittering and shaping in making Penthorum chinense Pursh leaf (PL) tea (PLT), which serves as a polyphenol dietary supplement and beverage raw material. GC–MS results showed that its unpleasant grassy odor decreased by 42.8% due to dodecanal, geranylacetone, and (E)-2-nonenal reduction, coupled with 1-hexadecanol increasing. UPLC-ESI-TOF-MS identified 95 compounds and showed that the debittering effect of green-tea manufacturing process was attributed to decreasing of flavonols and lignans, especially quercetins, kaempferols and luteolins, and increasing of dihydrochalcones which act as sweeteners bitterness-masking agents, while astringency was weakened by reducing delphinidin-3,5- O -diglucoside chloride, kaempferol-7- O -β- d -glucopyranoside, and tannins. The increase of pinocembrins and catechins in aqueous extracts of PLT, maintained its hepatoprotective, NAFLD-alleviation, and hepatofibrosis-prevention activities similar to PL in high fat–diet C57BL/6 mice, with flavonoids, tannins, tannic acids, and some newfound chemicals, including norbergenin, gomisin K2, pseudolaric acid B, tanshinol B, as functional ingredients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]