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Antioxidant, antimicrobial and DNA damage protecting potential of hot taste spices: a comparative approach to validate their utilization as functional foods

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Abstract

Hot taste spices have enormous health benefits starting from kitchen to pharmaceutical laboratories. Our present study is focused on phytochemical and pharmacological screening of six hot taste spices namely Zingiber officinale (ginger), Capsicum annuum (chilli), Piper chaba (java long pepper), Piper nigrum (black pepper), Syzygium aromaticum (clove), Trachyspermum ammi (carom). Among all six spices, clove and ginger exhibited strong antioxidant activity owing to higher phytochemical contents. Significant antifungal activity (IZD ≥ 11 mm) was revealed by all six spices except hexane fraction of carom whereas strong antibacterial activity with lowest MIC was displayed by clove, ginger and chilli. DNA was successfully protected from oxidative damage by clove, ginger followed by chilli, java long pepper and carom but black pepper could only partially protect DNA damage even at 4 mg/ml concentration. Based on the DNA damage protecting potentials and antioxidant activities clove, ginger, java long pepper and carom may be utilized for neutraceuticals development. Antimicrobial activities suggested that clove, ginger, java long pepper and chilli may be useful as food preservatives. Fractionated bioactivity of the all the six HTS would help for targeted extraction and development of nutraceuticals from these commonly used medicinal spices.

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Data availability

Data and material will be available upon request to corresponding author.

Abbreviations

HTS:

Hot taste spices

ZO:

Zingiber officinale

CA:

Capsicum annuum

PC:

Piper chaba

PN:

Piper nigrum

SA:

Syzygium aromaticum

TA:

Trachyspermum ammi

DPPH:

2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl

ABTS:

2,2′-Azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)

TBA:

Thiobarbituric acid

TCA:

Trichloroacetic acid

RPA:

Reducing power assay

LPA:

Lipid peroxidation assay

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

IZD:

Inhibition zone diameter

MIC:

Minimum inhibitory concentration

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Acknowledgements

We are privileged to convey our sincere gratitude to our respected Director, Prof. Sanghamitra Bandhopadhyay for providing Laboratory facilities and financial support for performing this research work. We are indebted to Prof. Susmita Mukhopadhyay, Prof-in-Charge, Biological Sciences Division; Prof. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Head, Agricultural and Ecological Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, for their affectionate encouragement, valuable advice and enormous laboratory facilities.

Funding

Funding was provided by Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural and Ecological Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, 203, B.T. Road, Kolkata, 700108, India

    Ekta Bhattacharya, Ujjaini Pal, Rajashree Dutta & Suparna Mandal Biswas

  2. Stockbridge School of Agriculture, University of Massachusetts, 18 Stockbridge Hall, Campus Centre Way, Box 3724580, Amherst, MA, 01003-7245, USA

    Prasanta C Bhowmik

Authors
  1. Ekta Bhattacharya
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  2. Ujjaini Pal
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  3. Rajashree Dutta
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  4. Prasanta C Bhowmik
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  5. Suparna Mandal Biswas
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Contributions

SMB: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing—review & editing. Supervision. EB: Investigation, Data curation, writing—original draft, Software, Visualization, Writing—review & editing. UP: Investigation, Data curation, Writing—original draft, Software, Visualization. RD: Investigation, Data curation, Software, Visualization. PCB: Design of the experiment, supervision and made the critical revision of the article.

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Correspondence to Ekta Bhattacharya or Suparna Mandal Biswas.

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Bhattacharya, E., Pal, U., Dutta, R. et al. Antioxidant, antimicrobial and DNA damage protecting potential of hot taste spices: a comparative approach to validate their utilization as functional foods. J Food Sci Technol 59, 1173–1184 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-021-05122-4

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