Antioxidant Capacities of Traditionally Formulated Thai Herbal Decoction and Its Effect on Cell Growth Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae Model

Polyherbal tea is widely consumed for rejuvenating of health in Thailand. Among them are Ya-Tri-Phigut (YTP), Ya-Tri-Kasornmas (YTK), Ya-Plook-Fithat (YPF), and Ya-Benjakul (YB). In addition, they have been listed as essential medicines with several others in the National List of Essential Medicines, Thailand. To ascertain their nutraceutical potentials, aqueous extracts of these herbal formulations were screened for their antioxidant activities. Extracts obtained from YTP showed higher yield (8.70 %) than YPF (6.40 %), YTK (6.30 %) and YB (6.30 %) (P <0.05). YTP also showed better antioxidant capacities than other tested formulations (P <0.05). Thus, it was used to test for its ability to support yeast cell. The extract (YTP) supported the yeast cell growth than the standard used called cryptotanshinone. Thus, YTP formulated herbal tonic can serve as a rich nutraceutical agent to combat oxidative stress and health related diseases.