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The consumption of culinary herbs and spices in our daily dietary intake has been known to reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases. The efficacy of these seasoning agents towards preventing or alleviating chronic diseases is facilitated through the synergistic effect of their secondary metabolites. A majority of the scientific reviews which have been conducted till present emphasise that the positive effects of culinary herbs and spices on human health is predominantly due to the presence of dietary polyphenols. This review however will focus on the therapeutic benefits of essential oils of culinary herbs and spices from the genera Curcuma and Zingiber in the management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Alzheimer's Disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The volatile oil (1.12%) from theZ. zerumbetrhizomes were extracted using Clevenger’s distillation. The GC and GC-MS profile of theZ. zerumbetvolatiles revealed several components of which Zerumbone was the principal compound (49.8%) followed by α-Caryophyllene (20.1%) and trace of other compounds. The antifungal property of volatiles was studied againstAspergillus flavusandAspergillus ochraceus. The fungal species were susceptible to volatiles, and the minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) was 160 ppm forA. flavusand 175 ppm forA. ochraceus.The studies with the food toxigenic organisms treated with volatiles were significant. It revealed substantial inhibition of mycelia, spore germination, reduction in biomass, carbohydrate, protein, chitin and genetic constituents. The inhibitory action of zerumbet volatile oil onA. flavusandA. ochraceusinvolves cell wall damage and distortion in the metabolism. The SEM ofA. flavusandA .ocharceusillustrates that treatment with the oil leads to distortion of hyphae and the absence of conidiophores. TheZ. zerumbetvolatiles (100 ppm) were found to be antimycotoxin on maize as food substrates and were dose-dependent on confirmation by HPLC.Z. zerumbetoil is potentially useful as biopreservative because of its antifungal and antimycotoxin efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Angelica archangelica L. seeds (fruits) were collected in three habitats in 2004 and 2005. Monoterpene hydrocarbons (59.3-82.9%) comprised the largest part of the seed oils. One hundred and five identified constituents made up 84.6-95.7% of the oils. The oils of ripe seeds were rich in β-phellandrene (33.6-63.4%). α-Pinene (4.2-15.8%) and sabinene (20.4%) were the second major constitutents in oils. Other main components of ripe seed oils were α-phellandrene, myrcene and germacrene D. The amounts of α-phellandrene decreased from 57.0-63.4% to 39.0-41.3% during the storage of the seeds for twelve months. The composition of the seed embryo oil differed from those of the ripe seeds. The dominant compounds were myrcene (21.8%), α-pinene (13.2%), sabinene (8.4%) and zingiberene (7.7%). The seed embryo oil contained about twice higher amount of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons. Only 5.2% of β-phellandrene was present in the seed embryo oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The original aroma compounds responsible for the fresh ginger flavor were isolated by Amberlite XAD-2 chromatography. Ginger oil was isolated by hydrodistillation from fresh ginger. Fresh ginger was dried and the oil was isolated by hydrodistillation from dry ginger (sun-dried and drier-dried). The oils were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. It was found that geranial (24.2%) and zingerone (14.2%) were the major compounds in the original aroma of fresh ginger and their contents decreased during processing. It was observed that the hydrocarbon content of the oil increased and the oxygenated compounds decreased as ginger was processed into dry ginger and ginger oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combination of GC and GC/MS analysis of the essential oil obtained from the rhizome of Zingiber roseum Rosc. revealed the presence of over 44 compounds of which 36 compounds have been identified comprising 94.9% of the oil. The oil was found to be rich in linalool (53.3%) with lesser amounts of limonene (14.0%), β-pinene (9.3%) and α-pinene (4.4%) being among the other constituents. The marker components of the family Zingiberaceae such as borneol (0.9%) and β-eudesmol (1.4%) were found to be present in relatively low concentrations in the oil. This is the first report on composition of the oil from rhizome of Z. roseum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]