CNN features video on Rooibos

Well deserved highlighted video, a must watch to learn on Rooibos.

http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/business/2012/04/30/exp-marketplace-africa-rooibos-redbush-tea-a.cnn.html

Rainforest Alliance and Manik Jayakumar featured

Coffee & Tea Newsletter, July 2011

Rainforest Alliance Certification Grows
New South African Rooibos Farms Added

The Rainforest Alliance recently announced that a group of South African farms growing rooibos—also known as red bush tea--have earned Rainforest Alliance certification. In addition to being a first for this crop type, the farms are also the first to become Rainforest Alliance CertifiedTM in South Africa.

The farms in Zeekoevlei Grootport and Driefontein produce rooibos for Rooibos Ltd, whose marketing arm in the USA is Herbal Teas International. The rooibos range carrying the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal is now available in all major supermarkets throughout Europe and North America.

“Because rooibos is a new crop for the Rainforest Alliance certification program, and we have not worked in South Africa previously, this is a real milestone for us,” said Tensie Whelan, president of the Rainforest Alliance. “By reaching out to new territories, the Rainforest Alliance’s certification program continues its important growth and further ensures the protection of our fragile environment and the livelihoods of farmers around the globe.”

Rooibos is already known for its health benefits—relieving digestive illness and promoting healthy skin, teeth and bones. Consumers can now be reassured that it is also healthy for the environment. Farms that achieve Rainforest Alliance certification have met the environmental, social and economic standards of the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN). The SAN standards co ver ecosystem conservation, worker rights and safety, wildlife protection, water and soil conservation, agrochemical reduction, decent housing, and legal wages and contracts for workers.

“Increasingly, consumers from all over the world want to know that the products they purchase are produced in a way that supports people, profit and the planet, said Martin Bergh, managing director of Rooibos Ltd. “Independent certification authorities such as the Rainforest Alliance reassure consumers that rooibos has been produced in a way that benefits the environment as well as the lives of the farmers and their workers. People who buy Rainforest Alliance Certified rooibos will know that the farmers who produced these products are not exploiting their laborers, and that they taking good care of their land and follow sound business principles to ensure a sustainable future.”

For more information, visit www.rainforest-alliance.org.

Why Rooibos Matters...

This information from the South African Rooibos Council clearly says it all....but more over, I have used and drank Rooibos for years as well as use it in Dermalogica Products.

As far back as 1830 botanists at the Cape made sketches of the Rooibos shrub and published their work. Since then scientists around the world have published their Rooibos research findings in a wide variety of leading scientific journals.
In 2008 Professor Lizette Joubert of the Agricultural Research Council and Professor Wentzel Gelderblom of the Medical Research Council, along with two more collaborators, published an overview of existing knowledge about the history, cultivation, traditional uses, composition and biological activity of Rooibos and other South African herbal teas. Their 37-page review article was published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology.*
Key facts about the composition of Rooibos, and the importance of its compounds, can be summarised as follows:
• Rooibos contains a complex mix of many flavonoids (compounds widely found in plants that are known to have health
benefits).
• Its composition is unique, because it contains aspalathin - to date only isolated from Aspalathus linearis (the botanical
name for Rooibos).
• Aspalathin is the major flavonoid of unfermented Rooibos. It decreases during fermentation, but is still a major flavonoid
constituent of fermented Rooibos (the tea with the characteristic red-brown colour and flavour).
• Aspalathin is important, not only because it is a novel compound, but also because it is the most active antioxidant in
Rooibos in many cases.
• Rooibos also contains the rare flavonoid glucoside nothofagin.
• Other major phenolic compounds are orientin and iso-orientin, with smaller amounts of vitexin and isovitexin and many
more compounds.
• The flavonoid composition of Rooibos varies between different regions and seasons, probably due to different soil and
climate conditions, as well as genetic variations in the seeds used to propagate the plant.
• Rooibos does not contain caffeine.
• It is considered a low tannin beverage, especially when compared to Camellia sinensis (black) tea. • The antioxidant activity of teas is very important, because they can scavenge free radicals and so help to protect cells and
lipids (fats) against oxidative damage. Several studies have shown that Rooibos extracts contain powerful free radical
scavengers.
• The flavonoids in Rooibos are also able to modulate (influence) the actions of carcinogens in the cell, thereby preventing or
slowing down cancer. The major flavonoids in Rooibos (and possibly also other Rooibos compounds that are still unknown) demonstrate antimutagenic properties. In some studies green (unfermented) Rooibos is a more potent antimutagenic agent, while other studies found that fermented Rooibos has a higher antimutagenic effect. The type of mutagen (cancer causing substance) also has an effect.
• The antioxidants in Rooibos also protect the liver against oxidative stress and it could have value for liver patients. Studies on Japanese quails have shown that Rooibos also has an antihemolytic effect (protecting blood cells) and anti-ageing properties (slowing down brain degeneration and prolonging fertility).
• The bronchodilatory, antispasmodic and blood pressure lowering effects of Rooibos, and its potential to stimulate the immune system, has been shown in some studies, but needs to be further explored.
• Human studies have shown that taking Rooibos is an effective way to treat several skin conditions. It decreased the incidence of herpes simplex within a few days, helped for itching (associated with dermatitis), and could reduce inflammation and sun sensitivity of the skin.
* Joubert, E., Gelderblom, W.C.A., Louw, A., De Beer, C., 2008. South African herbal teas: Aspalathus linearis, Cyclopia spp. and Athrixia phylicoides - A review. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 119, 376 - 412.