Recent Trends in Indian Traditional Herbs Syzygium Aromaticum and its Health Benefits

Abstract

Cloves (Syzygium Aromaticum), many medicinal uses have been most famously applied to toothache, and for mouth and throat inflammation. The dove has been used in India and China, for over 2,000 years, as a spice to check both tooth decay and counter halitosis that is bad breath. In Persia and China, it was considered to have aphrodisiac properties. Cloves have historically been used in Indian cuisine (both North Indian and South Indian). In the north Indian cuisine, it is used in almost every sauce or side dish made, mostly ground up along with other spices. More than just a counterirritant though, the German Commission E Monographs list cloves as having antiseptic, antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties One of the main constituents of clove oil (eugenol) exhibits broad antimicrobial activities against both Gram-positive, Gram-negative and acid-fact bacteria, as well as fungi Cloves are well known also for their antiemetic (relieves nausea and vomiting) and carminative properties (The oldest apparent medicinal use of cloves was in China, where it is reported that they were taken for various ailments as early as 240BC. Cloves were taken over the centuries for diarrhea, most liver, stomach and bowel ailments, and as a stimulant for the nerves Traditionally cloves have been used to treat flatulence, nausea and vomiting .In tropical Asia cloves have been given to treat such diverse infections as malaria, cholera and tuberculosis, as well as scabies traditional uses in America include treating worms, viruses, candida, various bacterial and protozoan infections Laboratory tests on cloves identify eugenol as being the possible reason for the antimicrobial actions, and confirm cloves’ effectiveness in inhibiting food-borne pathogens as well as other bacteria and fungi The volatile oil of cloves (about 85-92% eugenol) was highly active against a range of test microorganisms, being classified as bactericidal in nature. Along with the recreational uses of cloves, they are also said to be a natural anthelmintic.