Coffea arabica

Coffea arabica originates from Ethiopia, but many cultured species are nowadays grown in tropical and subtropical countries. The most famous and worldwide distributed product from this plant is the beverage coffee. It is prepared from roasted coffee beans, the seeds of berries. Coffee is a drink with millenia-long tradition, formerly known as remedy today mainly known as luxury food. Apart from that, caffeine has been used in pharmaceutical and cosmetic preparations since a long time due to its favorable effects on the skin.

[Evaluation of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of green coffee beans methanolic extract in rat skin. Pergolizzi S, D’Angelo V, Aragona M, Dugo P, Cacciola F, Capillo G, Dugo G, Lauriano E. Nat Prod Res. 2018 Dec 3:1-7. doi: 10.1080/14786419.2018.1523161. [Epub ahead of print]]

But not only the coffee beans have interesting ingredients, few studies focus on the leaves for medicinal purposes and the composition of secondary plant substances.

[Nutraceutical compounds: Echinoids, flavonoids, xanthones and caffeine identified and quantitated in the leaves of Coffea arabica trees from three regions of Brazil. de Almeida R, Trevisan M, Thomaziello R, Breuer A, Klika K, Ulrich C, Owen R. Food Res Int. 2019 Jan;115:493-503. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2018.10.006. Epub 2018 Oct 7.]

The coffea arabica plant is still a challenging plant for pharmaceutical and nutraceutical research.

[An Insight into the Therapeutic Potential of Major Coffee Components. Islam M, Tabrez S, Jabir N, Ali M, Kamal M, da Silva Araujo L, De Oliveira Santos J, Da Mata A, De Aguiar R, de Carvalho Melo Cavalcante A. Curr Drug Metab. 2018;19(6):544-556. doi: 0.2174/1389200219666180302154551.]