Spices With Surprising Health Benefits

If you want to spice up your life, add some root, bark and plant derivatives to your diet. Herbs and spices add some pep to any meal, and many come with proven heart healthy benefits and can even ease pain, including post-workout soreness. Herbs and spices also have antibacterial and antiviral properties, and most are high in B-vitamins and trace minerals. In fact, most contain more disease-fighting antioxidants than some fruits and vegetables. Herbs and spices are also an inexpensive way to add flavor to food without the extra fat, calories, sodium or cholesterol.

Many of these spices like cardamom, clove, nutmeg, ginger etc. these spices provide innumerable benefits in our health but they should be used sparingly. The excessive use of spices in food can cause harm to the health. Try to make specific use of these spices. All spices originate from plants: flowers, fruits, seeds, barks, leaves, and roots. Herbs and spices not only improve the taste of foods, but can help preserve them for longer periods of time.

Some of the major health benefits from spices are-

Spices contain an impressive list of plant-derived chemical compounds that are known to have disease preventing and health promoting properties. Spices chiefly compose of essential-oils, phytochemicals, anti-oxidants, vitamins, and phyto-sterols.

Skin Problems

Some spices helps deal with skin problems. Like turmeric powder, saffron can be used for healing cuts and wounds or skin disease also.

Digestion

The active principles in the spices may help in smooth digestion through augmenting intestinal tract motility as well as increasing the digestion power by stimulating excessive secretion of gastro-intestinal enzymes inside the gut.

Anti-inflammation

Throat gargling with tepid thyme water can help relieve sore throat and bronchitis symptoms. Thyme is also being used as an anti-septic mouthwash, Bay leaf oil possesses antifungal and antibacterial

Anti-cancer

Some spices are actively against cancer some are:

Turmeric contains the powerful polyphenol Curcumin that has been clinically proven to retard the growth of cancer cells, fennel resists and restricts the adhesive and invasive activities of cancer cells, cumin seeds contain a compound called ‘Thymoquinone’ that checks proliferation of cells responsible for prostate cancer, cinnamon is a source of iron and calcium Useful in reducing tumour growth, it blocks the formation of new vessels in the human body, oregano consist of ‘Quercetin’ which restricts growth of malignant cells in the body and acts like a drug against cancer-centric diseases, Pepper (Chilli peppers) is Also s promising spice with anti-cancer properties.

Diabetes

Some of the most commonly used dried herbs and spices may help block the inflammation believed to drive diabetes when blood sugar levels are high a process known as protein glycation occurs, which produces compounds that promote inflammation. These are known as AGE compounds (advanced glycation end-products). Cinnamon contains bioactive components that can help lower blood sugar levels, fenugreek have positive effect of blood glucose and lipid profiles in Type 2 diabetic patients, Ginger have Anti-diabetic, hypolipidemic and anti-oxidative properties which are beneficial in controlling blood sugar levels.

List of healthy spices

Written By:

Deepti Rawat 

Trainee Medical Coder, Delhi