2016, Pages 332–337
Herbs: Composition and Dietary Importance
Abstract
Herbs
are used for both medicinal and culinary purposes for thousands years.
In many delicious cuisines, dietary herbs are used to increase the taste
and flavor of foods. Recent years' reports revealed that herbs
contribute as dietary nutrients, which are known to possess a number of
beneficial health properties. Currently, research is progressing to
identify the pharmacologically potent herbs that are used in disease
prevention and health promotion purposes as well. In this article, we
discuss the eight important culinary herbs that are commonly used in our
cuisines worldwide to determine the true benefits of these herbs from a
health viewpoint.
Keywords
- Cinnamomum zeylanicum;
- Coriandrum sativum;
- Culinary use;
- Curcuma longa;
- Dietary composition;
- Herbs;
- Ocimum basilicum;
- Origanum vulgare;
- Petroselinum crispum;
- Piper longum;
- Rosmarinus officinalis
Vitae
Vikas Kumar
is an associate professor of pharmacology at Indian Institute of
Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi, India, since 2006. He
has completed his PhD from Banaras Hindu University, India, after MPharm
and BPharm from Gulbarga University, India, and has about 14 years of
professional experience. He has successfully mentored 6 doctoral
students and 16 MPharm students who are now highly placed across the
world. He was awarded postdoctoral fellowship by the Texas Tech
University, Health Sciences Center, School of Pharmacy, Amarillo, USA.
He has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals
including four chapters in books. Kumar has also visited Canada,
Germany, France, China, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore, South Africa, and
Italy to enhance his professional experience at various capacities
including delivering invited lectures in the international conferences.
He has received Sami Khatib Gold Medal for being a topper in BPharm and
Servier Young Investigators' Award instituted by Institute de Researches
Internationales Servier, France. His biography is published in Marquis
Who's Who in the World, Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Who's Who
in Science and Engineering, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who of
Emerging Leaders published from the United States. He is also recipient
of most coveted institutional and globally reputed ‘Rashtriya Gaurav
Award’-2011 for his remarkable achievements in the field of Science and
Technology.
He is life member of several reputed
professional associations across the world. He is also regular member of
American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, International Brain
Research Organization, Academy of Pharmaceutical Scientists of Great
Britain, International Society of Ethnopharmacology, Society for
Neuroscience, Society of Ethnobiology, British Pharmacological Society,
and American Botanical Council. He serves as member of editorial board
of more than ten journals and also serves as peer reviewer of European
Journal of Integrative Medicine, Phytotherapy Research, Food and
Chemical Toxicology, Nutrition Research, Journal of Ethnopharmacology,
BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Indian Journal of
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Industrial Health, Scientific Reports,
Natural Product Research: Formerly Natural Product Letters.
Prior
to joining Banaras Hindu University as faculty member, he has worked
successfully and productively in the pharmaceutical industries viz.
Lupin Research Park, Pune, India, and Indian Herbs Research & Supply
Co. Ltd., Saharanpur, India. He also has scientific collaborations with
Dr. Willmar Schwabe GmbH & Co. KG, Germany.
Tatjana Marković
graduated at University of Belgrade, Serbia, and completed the Post
Graduate Specialist Studies and Master Thesis in the field of natural
products, aromatic, and medicinal plants at the Mediterranean Institute
for Advanced Agronomic Studies in Greece, which belongs to the CIHEAM
Institute, Paris, France. She completed her PhD Theses at University of
Belgrade in the field of biotechnology of natural products, medicinal,
and aromatic plants. She is employed in the Institute for Medicinal
Plant Research “Dr Josif Pančić” Belgrade and is a head of department
for R&D in MAP and a chairman of the Scientific Council of the
Institute.
The most significant part of its R&D
activities in the field she devoted to analytics, research, and
improvement of scientific data and possible application of natural
products of plant origin. She was leading or participating in many
national and international scientific projects related to the medicinal
and aromatic plants, confirmed by many lectures given upon invitation
and a great number of scientific publications.
She is the editor of several scientific monographs, editor in chief of local scientific journal Medicinal Raw Materials
and the author of a number of articles in peer-reviewed scientific
journals and chapters in scientific books. She is also the author of the
popular book Secrets of medicinal, aromatic & spice bio-gardens and a scientific book Essential oils and their safe application.
M. Emerald
held her PhD in biochemistry/cellular biophysics and Dr. Sc. in
behavioral neuroscience, and has 16 years experience of work in basic
science and laboratory environment (intercellular and extracellular
recordings in vitro and in vivo, patch clamp, culture
of tissue, confocal microscopy, morphological techniques,
pharmacological essays, etc.) and 18 years experience of work in the
international business.
Since 1996, she is a founder,
president, and CEO of PHYTOCEUTICALS International (Canada), one of the
leading suppliers and manufacturers of the plant derived natural raw
supply and specialty formulations. As an experienced and well-known
scientist, educator, and sponsor for a variety of research projects on
therapeutic and industrial use of the natural plant derived material,
novel drugs delivery systems and neuropharmacology, she has affiliations
with AOCS, AOAC, ACS, ASPh, ABC, ISHS, and AAAS. Emerald was a guest
editor for the Bio Med Research International, and a reviewer for the variety of research journals, including Pharmaceutical Development and Technology.
Emerald
is a professional consultant on essential and carrier oils, natural
intermediates, and flavors. As an independent formulator and developer
of a large variety of specialty formulations based on the natural plant
derivatives for many companies in North America and overseas, she is
working in close cooperation with different universities, research
facilities, and pharmaceutical companies worldwide, as well as
manufacturing companies, plant research and biotechnology centers. She
is well versed in all aspects of natural products and natural plant
derived ingredients safety affairs, clinical research and international
product marketing, manufacturing and distribution.
Emerald
is highly motivated, knowledgeable, hard working, and reliable team
leader committed to maintaining cutting edge technical skills and
up-to-date knowledge of industry and inventions. She is always open to
new business partnerships and interested to participate in novel
exciting research projects.
Amitabha Dey
is a PhD Research Scholar working in Neuropharmacology Research
Laboratory at Department of Pharmaceutics, Indian Institute of
Technology (Banaras Hindu University) Varanasi since 2013. He has
completed his post-graduation from Roland Institute of Pharmaceutical
Science (RIPS), Berhampur, Orissa in year 2010. He has 3 years of
preclinical research experience in Pharmacology Laboratory at Institute
of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), an autonomous
institute under Department of Biotechnology, Government of India,
Manipur. He was a recipient of PharmaNext-Young Scientist Award for best
Poster Presentation. He has actively participated in various national
and international conferences and workshops. He has published 13
research and review papers in peer-reviewed journals, and 14 proceedings
in national and international conferences.
He is a life
member of Indian Pharmacological Society and Indian Pharmacy Graduates'
Association. He is an expert in literature browsing using web tools like
PubMed, ScienceDirect, Library Genesis, SciVerse, SciFinder, Web of
Science, etc. and has knowledge of statistics softwares used in
pharmacological research (GraphPad Prism and Origin) and familiar with
operating systems such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Mac
OS.
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