Research Article

Spices – The Best Inhibitor Against Human Pathogens

 Yinass Pushparani A. and Judia Harriet Sumathy V.

Abstract

Spices have been used for thousands of centuries to enhance the flavor and aroma of foods besides being used as a preservative and for their medicinal values. At first spices use was restricted to native places but by the middle ages explorers braved the sea just to bring back highly treasured spices from other countries.  The use of herbs and spices in cooking offers the chance to prepare exotic, gourmet dishes, or cultural meals and a way to cut or save calories and fat in cooking.  It was discovered that addition of spices in foods not only imparts flavor and pungent stimuli but also provides antimicrobial property by the natural antimicrobial compounds present in them. Eighteen different spices such as garlic, ginger, onion, chili, coriander leaves, curry leaves, mint, turmeric, mustard, poppy seeds, bay leaves, cinnamon, clove, cumin, cardamom, nutmeg, pepper, and fennel were tested by both well diffusion method and filter paper method against six different clinically important human pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Bacillus cereus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Enterococcus faecalis and Shigella sonnei. The result of the study revealed garlic, ginger, cardamom and cinnamon to exhibit the best inhibitory effect against these organisms.

Keywords: Spices, Human pathogens, Antimicrobial property, Inhibitory Effect and Antibiotics.

*Corrsponding Author : E-mail : sbsj@rediffmail.com