Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities of Spices
1
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China
2
South China Sea Bioresource Exploitation and Utilization Collaborative Innovation Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2017, 18(6), 1283; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms18061283
Received: 16 May 2017 / Revised: 9 June 2017 / Accepted: 11 June 2017 / Published: 16 June 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Activity of Natural Secondary Metabolite Products)
Infectious diseases caused by pathogens and food poisoning caused by spoilage microorganisms are threatening human health all over the world. The efficacies of some antimicrobial agents, which are currently used to extend shelf-life and increase the safety of food products in food industry and to inhibit disease-causing microorganisms in medicine, have been weakened by microbial resistance. Therefore, new antimicrobial agents that could overcome this resistance need to be discovered. Many spices—such as clove, oregano, thyme, cinnamon, and cumin—possessed significant antibacterial and antifungal activities against food spoilage bacteria like Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas fluorescens, pathogens like Staphylococcus aureus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus, harmful fungi like Aspergillus flavus, even antibiotic resistant microorganisms such as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Therefore, spices have a great potential to be developed as new and safe antimicrobial agents. This review summarizes scientific studies on the antibacterial and antifungal activities of several spices and their derivatives.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
spice; antibacterial activity; antifungal effect; antimicrobial property; essential oil; clove; oregano; thyme
▼
Show Figures
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Liu, Q.; Meng, X.; Li, Y.; Zhao, C.-N.; Tang, G.-Y.; Li, H.-B. Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities of Spices. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2017, 18, 1283. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms18061283
AMA Style
Liu Q, Meng X, Li Y, Zhao C-N, Tang G-Y, Li H-B. Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities of Spices. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2017; 18(6):1283. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms18061283
Chicago/Turabian StyleLiu, Qing; Meng, Xiao; Li, Ya; Zhao, Cai-Ning; Tang, Guo-Yi; Li, Hua-Bin. 2017. "Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities of Spices" Int. J. Mol. Sci. 18, no. 6: 1283. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms18061283
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
Search more from Scilit