Spices are natural compounds derived from different parts of a plant which are commonly used as flavoring, aroma and preservatives. The essential oil content and oleoresins present in the spices have given them the flavoring and aroma. In addition, the essential oil can also act as a natural preservative in foods (Ceylan and Fung, 2004).
Other than flavoring, aroma and preservatives, spices have many therapeutic properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, chemopreventive and antifungal. The antimicrobial properties of spices have led to the development of plant-origin antibiotics so as to overcome the antibiotic resistant problems. In addition, the anticancer, antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties of spice extracts have help to maintain and promote the health of human (Ceylan and Fung, 2004).
1.1 SPICES AS ANTIMICROBIAL AGENTS
Prolonged antibiotic usage has resulted in the development of several resistance mechanisms by the bacteria, causing them to be resistant towards the action of antibiotics. Many infectious pathogens have developed multidrug resistance capacity, including methicilin-resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Antibiotic resistance is caused by either genetic or biochemical aspects.
1.1.1 Mutations
Antibiotic resistance may occur due to the mutation caused by errors of replication or incorrect repair of damaged DNA (Giedraitiene et al., 2011). The changes in at least 7 amino acids in the gyrA gene or 3 amino acids in the parC gene causes Escherichia coli to be resistance towards quinolones; whereas, complete resistance to rifampin is mainly because of the single point mutation in rpoB gene (Dzidic et al., 2008).
Hypermutators are bacteria with...
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...V.S., Luximon-Ramma, A., Aruoma, O.I. and Bahorun, T. (2005) Phenolics as potential antioxidant therapeutic agents: Mechanisms and actions. Mutation Research 579(1-2): 200-213
Chempakam, B. and Balaji, S. (2008) Star Anise. Chemistry of Spices 17: 319-330
De, M., De, A.K., Sen, P. and Banerjee, A.B. (2002) Antimicrobial Properties of Star Anise (Illicium verum Hook f). Phytotherapy Research 16(1): 94-95
Panpatil, V.V., Tattari, S., Kota, N., Nimgulkar, C. and Polasa, K. (2013) In vitro evaluation on antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of spice extracts of ginger, turmeric and garlic. Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2(3): 143-148
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Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are created when mutations in the pathogen's genetic code occurs, changing the protein in the bacteria that the antibiotics normally go after into a shape that the antibiotic can not recognize. The average bacteria divides every twenty minutes, so if a contaminated spot has one single bacteria in the morning, there could be trillions on that same spot at the end of the day. That means that when counting all the possibilities of mutations, the amount of mutated offspring that the bacteria might have formed during those replications could be as high as in the millions. Fortunately though, this does not happen so frequently that it is normally an issue. The amount of non-mutated bacteria vastly outnumbers the mutated ones and many of the mutations occurring in the bacteria usually have either a harmful effect, or not effect at all on its function. That means that the pathogen is still relatively less harmful than it c...
Acquired antimicrobial resistance generally can be ascribed to one of five mechanisms. These are production of drug-inactivating enzymes, modification of an existing target, acquisition of a target by-pass system, reduced cell permeability and drug removal from the cell. (Sefton) Also a bacterium that was once prone to an antibiotic can gain resistance through alt...
Phenolic acids are secondary plant metabolites widely distributed in foods, especially fruits and vegetables. In recent years, phenolic acids have attracted a lot of attention because they exist ubiquitously in plants and play protective roles. Phenolic acids possess interesting biological properties, (Beilin, Stocker, & Croft, 1997) that render them interesting to study. They are widespread in crops such as fruits, vegetables, herbs, grains, and seeds and derived foods such as juices, wines, and oils, (Graf, Ameho, Dolnokowski, Milbuty, Chen, & Blumberg, 2006). Phenolic compounds play a key role in thwarting the negative impacts of oxygen and nitrogen reactive species (ROS/RNS), maintaining the redox homeostasis of biological fluids and preventing conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, atherosclerosis, and other degenerative pathologies, such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, (Shahrzad & Bitsch, 1998).
Long before humans discovered antibiotics, they existed in nature. So naturally, after penicillin was introduced, some germs were already naturally resistant to the drug. As we used more and more of the antibiotics, we incidentally caused drug-resistant germs to progress. So, even if you’ve never misused antibiotics, you could still become infected by bacterium most drugs won’t kill. For each drug, there are germs genetically programmed to survive- some w/ outer walls tough for antibiotic to cross, others with ways to dump the drugs back out before they can work, and yet others can inactivate the antibiotic. Even worse, by passing tiny packets of genetic material to other bacteria, these survivor germs sometimes also pass the formula for resistance to the other bacteria. The best way you can protect yourself and your family against drug-resistant bacteria is by using antibiotics correctly. Taking them when they’re not needed encourages the takeover of drug-resistant strains in your body. (Redbook, pg.95) That’s because when antibiotics are given, the normal bacteria in your body are killed off, leaving lots of bacterial “parking spaces'; open. And the germ left to fill them is the drug-resistant ones. (Redbook, pg.95) So far, antibiotic resistance has not been a big problem with streptococcus A, the germ familiar to all of us for causing millions of cases of strep thr...
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) has many common everyday uses and some not so common uses. Everybody has probably used cinnamon for some reason, whether for cooking purposes or medicinal purposes. Despite being widely used in food and pharmacy it is also important in the cosmetic and perfumery industries (7). In some areas cinnamon has been known to be used for religious purposes.
Antibiotic resistance is a consequence of the misuse of antibiotics that give pathogenic bacteria the ability to withstand the effects of an antibiotic. Resistance occurs when bacteria change in such a way that they survive exposure to antibiotics. Resistance may not be confined to a single antibiotic, but may affect multiple antimicrobial classes. Antibiotic resistance is a major problem and everyone needs to work together to combat it - from medical practitioners to patients.
Bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics is a major problem not only for the United States, but worldwide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012) the cause is related to “widespread overuse, as well as inappropriate use, of antibiotics that is fueling antibiotic resistance”. According to World Health Organization (2013) resistance is a global concern for several reasons; it impedes the control of infectious diseases, increases healthcare costs, and the death rate for patients with resistant bacterial infections is twice of those with non-resistant bacterial infections.
Bacterial resistance to antibiotics has presented many problems in our society, including an increased chance of fatality due to infections that could have otherwise been treated with success. Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections, but overexposure to these drugs give the bacteria more opportunities to mutate, forming resistant strains. Through natural selection, those few mutated bacteria are able to survive treatments of antibiotics and then pass on their genes to other bacterial cells through lateral gene transfer (Zhaxybayeva, 2011). Once resistance builds in one patient, it is possible for the strain to be transmitted to others through improper hygiene and failure to isolate patients in hospitals.
First, we are going to talk about what does drug resistance exactly means. Drug resistance is when the effectiveness of the medicine that has been used to treat the infection is reduced. According to the WHO (World health organization), drug resistance occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change into different ways in order to render the medications that were used to cure infections that they have caused and make it ineffective. Drug resistance has been a major health problem since the 1990’s (1), because of the occurring of different kinds of drug resistance, it makes it even harder to treat all the different kinds of infections or microorganisms. Thus, because of drug resistances it makes it even harder to find new treatments to cure diseases and infections.
Resistance first appears in a population of bacteria through conditions that favor its selection. When an antibiotic attacks a group of bacteria, cells that are highly susceptible to the medicine will die. On the other hand, cells that have some resistance from the start or acquire it later may survive. At the same time, when antibiotics attack disease-causing bacteria, they also attack benign bacteria. This process eliminates drug-susceptible bacteria and favors bacteria that are resistant. Two things happen, populations of non-resistant and harmless bacteria are diminished, and because of the reduction of competition from these harmless and/or susceptible bacteria, resistant forms of disease-causing bacteria proliferate. As the resistant forms of the bacteria proliferate, there is more opportunity for genetic or chromosomal mutation (spontaneous DNA mutation (1)) or transformation, that comes about either through a form of microbial sex (1) or through the transference of plasmids, small circles of DNA (1), which allow bacteria to interchange genes with ease. Sometimes genes can also be t...
Lindberg, D. (n.d.). Herbal Medicine: MedlinePlus. U.S National Library of Medicine. Retrieved May 7, 2014, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/herbal
The most effective way to combat pathogenic bacteria which invade the body is the use of antibiotics. Overexposure to antibiotics can easily lead to resistant strains of bacteria. Resistance is dangerous because bacteria can easily spread from person to person. Simple methods for preventing excessive bacterial spread are often overlooked. Not all preventative measures are even adequate. Doctors and patients often use antibiotics unnecessarily or incorrectly, leading to greater resistance. Antibiotics are used heavily in livestock and this excessive antibiotic use can create resistant bacteria and transfer them to humans. In order to reduce resistant bacteria,
Ayurveda is the general name given to the collective practices of ancient Indian medicine and is made up of many different components such as lifestyle changes, iridology, massage therapy, aromatherapy and importantly, the application of medicinal plants and herbs. As an ancient science, until recently not much research has been conducted on the efficacy of such treatments and practices. This has been due to both the lack of availability of concrete resources and debate on the validity of translations of first sources. Of all the herbs, the use of three of the traditional plant-based treatments- namely Neem (Azardirachta indica), Sage (various Salvia species) and Turmeric (Curcuma longa) - will be discussed due to reported high efficiency rates and frequent usage. These plants are reported to be highly useful in the field of Ayurveda and are not only the most frequently listed of all the herbs but also the most frequently researched. Although many cases have been documented to prove the usefulness of these herbs, there have been many cases that discourage the practice of Ayurveda by providing an argument against the safety and reliability of these herbs. Many of these claims now have recently been verified or shown to be false through proper scientific study. The use of neem and turmeric in particular has become highly controversial due to the concepts of biopiracy and biopatents and a brief introduction of that topic will be given with specific examples. Issues of safety and the general lack of scientific study will also be discussed. Negative effects of Ayurveda and Ayurvedic remedies that have been discovered through research are presented. Other benefits of using Ayurvedic plant-remedies such as cost effectiveness will also be analyzed.
... many of them are put in salads and meats to give it a spicy or sweet taste. Some of the spices would be Allispice, Anise, Cardamom, and more. Allispice kind of looks like cinnamon when you crunch it up, but its not. What it really is a brown spicy spice that delights your mouth and gives a lot of tastes to your meat. Anise is found in these very nice plants that look like a star. Their color is brown and they are sweet spices that many people like. Cardamom is green and this spice is made using and mortar and pestle and this spice is in many salads they are very sweet and salty if you would say.
Ginger has been widely used in different culinary cuisines and has numerous therapeutic qualities. It is a rhizome or mass of roots from the plant Zingiber officinale and with the numerous members of this plant family, all has its own uses as a delicacy, medicine, and spice. It can be served in solid form as fresh, dried, or powdered and in liquid form such as juice, extract, or oil. Ginger has been found to be highly effective in fighting a variety of diseases and conditions because of its impact in relieving excessive inflammation, which is a notable underlying cause of many illnesses. Here are several areas wherein ginger has been shown to be very effective: