Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Different Extracts of Some Medicinal Herbs Consumed as Tea and Spices in Turkey

Abstract

Methanol (MeOH) extracts, infusions and decoctions of eight plants were investigated for their antioxidant activity using phosphomolybdenum and 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl assays: Cassia angustifolia (Senna tea), Foeniculum vulgare (fennel), Pimpinella anisum (anise), Laurus nobilis (laurel), Tilia vulgaris (linden tea), Urtica dioica (nettle), Petroselinum crispum (parsley) and Anethum graveolens (dill). The results showed that the highest antioxidant activity was found in MeOH extract of linden. Linden MeOH extract also contained the highest amount of phenolic compound. The antimicrobial activities of MeOH extracts, infusions, decoctions and hydrosols were tested against eight bacteria and two yeasts using the agar diffusion method. Correlations between the phenolic content of each plant and the antioxidant activity were observed. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Senna, fennel, anise, laurel, linden, nettle, parsley and dill are mostly consumed as tea and spices. Also, they are widely used as remedy against various diseases in Turkish traditional medicine. Tea, herbal infusions and plants are the major source of phenolic compounds in our diet. It is known that phenolic compounds have many biological activities such as antioxidant, free radical scavenging and antimicrobial activity. Observed activities contribute to the recent increase in research on using natural products in many areas such as food, pharmacy, alternative medicine and natural therapy.

A Study on Antioxidant Potency and Antibacterial Activity of Water Extracts of Some Spices Widely Consumed in Iranian Diet

“…The results reported for radical scavenging activity of fennel extracts (36.84% at the dose of 2 mg/mL) are similar to our results (Albayrak et al . ).…”

Antioxidant activity, polyphenolic contents and essential oil composition of Pimpinella anisum L. as affected by zinc fertilizer

“…14 -17 Similarly, there are a number of reports on the phenolic content of anise in the seeds, 1,18 fruits, leaves, 19 roots 13 and whole plant. 10 The antioxidant activity and essential oil content of plants may vary considerably with respect to environmental conditions, nutrient and water accessibility and genetic potential of the crop. 20,21 Among nutrients, zinc (Zn) is one the most important basic micronutrients and has a specific physiological function within plants, being required in membrane integrity, 22 carbohydrate metabolism, 23 indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) biosynthesis and transport, 24,25 control mechanisms of generation and detoxification of oxygen-derived radicals and activation of various antioxidant enzymes, 26 -29 protein synthesis and RNA metabolism 30,31 and photosynthesis.…”

“…The essential oil of anise fruit also contains other major compounds such as estragol, anisaldehyde, γ ‐himachalene and cis ‐anethole . Several studies have reported the antioxidant activity of anise extracts obtained from the whole plant, seeds, roots and essential oil . Similarly, there are a number of reports on the phenolic content of anise in the seeds, fruits, leaves, roots and whole plant …”

Antimicrobial efficacy of plant phenolic compounds against Salmonella and Escherichia Coli

“…Inhibitory effects of several natural bioactive compounds from berries and grapes (Puupponen-Pimia et al, 2001;Zanoli & Zavatti, 2008) herbs and spices (Albayrak, Aksoy, Sagdic, & Albayrak, 2012;Shan et al, 2007b;Shan, Cai, Brooks, & Corke, 2007a) and other plant extracts (Pereira et al, 2007b;RaybaudiMassilia, Mosqueda-Melgar, Soliva-Fortuny, & Martin-Belloso, 2009;Santas et al, 2010) were tested against food-relevant bacteria including: E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, and Staphylococcus. Although the antimicrobial activity of some PCs including: thymol (Lambert et al, 2001;Santas et al, 2010), eugenol (Phanthong, Lomarat, Chomnawangb, & Bunyapraphatsaraa, 2013), carvacrol (Lambert et al, 2001;Santas et al, 2010), quercetin (Yao et al, 2011) and myricetin (Puupponen-Pimia et al, 2001) has been previously reported, the response after the long term exposure was not reported and there are still many unexplored sources.…”