Biological Significance of Spicy Essential Oils.docVIP

Biological Significance of Spicy Essential Oils 　　Abstract 　　Spices are used as food additives since ancient times， as flavouring agents but also as natural food preservatives. Spice essential oils are complex mixtures of volatile substances， ordinarily terpenes， sesquiterpenes and oxygenated derivatives. They have been largely employed for their properties already observed in nature i.e.， for their antibacterial， antifungal and insecticidal properties. At present， approximately 3000 essential oils are known， 300 of which are commercially important especially for pharmaceutical， agronomic， food， sainitary， cosmetic and perfume industries. It is important to develop a better understanding of their mode of action for new applications in human health， agriculture and environment. Some of them constitute effective alternatives or complements to synthetic compounds of chemical industry. 　　Key words： Spice essential oil； Antibacterial； Antifungal； Insecticidal； Food additives 　　INTRODUCTION 　　Spices， which are important part of human diets， have been used for thousands of years to enhance the flavour， colour and aroma of food. In addition to boosting flavour， herbs and spices are also known for their preservative（Neilsen Rios， 2000）， antioxidative （Shobana Naidu， 2000）， antimicrobial and various other medicinal values （Wood et al.， 2001）， which forms one of the oldest sciences. Scientific experiments since 19th century have documented the antioxidative and antimicrobial properties of spices and their components. Essential oils of spices are volatile， natural complex compounds， characterized by a strong odour and are found in aromatic plant as secondary metabolites for which aromatic plants are used in the pharmaceutical， food and fragrance industries. They comprise as several hundred constituents， especially hydrocarbon （terpenes and sesquiterpenes） and oxygenated compound （aldehydes， ketones， alcohols， acids， phenols， oxides， lactones， acetate， ethers and este