**2. Ancient uses of spices & condiments**

Since ancient spices were closely related to culture, and traditional activities for good health worldwide. The prestigious Hindus holy book 'Ramayana' and literature from the 1st century AD of the Roman Empire both make reference to the clove. In Ayurveda, small cardamom was known for its medicinal values which also mentions as '*ela*' in various Ayurvedic Sanskrit texts on medicine '*Charaka Samhita*', '*Sushruta Samhita*' and *Ashtanga Hridaya*. In 1555 BCE Ancient Egyptians recorded the use of coriander, fennel, juniper, cumin, garlic, and thyme. Garlic was also used for worship by ancient Egyptian and also have been found in the tomb of king Tutankhamen who ruled Egypt until 1338 BC. As early as 3000 BCE, the farmers of Mesopotamia cultivated garlic and it is also found that garlic was used in the treatment of intestinal disorders and for lowering blood cholesterol levels due to having fibrinolytic activity. Cardamom and cinnamon were used as spices in ancient Egypt. In the first century Greek physician, Pedanius Dioscorides published a plant monograph of 600 herbs which has a description of all the use of herbs for health benefits [1, 2, 4–7].

#### **2.1 An insight on ayurvedic uses**

Ayurveda is the ancient natural medical system that evolved more than 5000 years ago in the Himalayas. The ayurvedic healing system directly depends on three forces of energies known as *Doshas* such as *Vata* (air) -*Pitta* (fire) -*Kapha* (water). These three doshas are primary functional energies of the human body which are strongly related to five elements of nature such as Earth (Prithvi), Air (Vayu), Water (Jala), Fire (Teja), and Space (Aakash). The relationship between elements of nature with three doshas is *Vata Dosha*- a catabolic dosha formed by a combination of air and space (air is an active element in vatta and space acts as a regulatory element), *Pitta Dosha*- a metabolic dosha formed by a combination of fire and water (fire is an active element, and water helps to regulate or control fire), and Kapha- an anabolic dosha formed by a combination of earth and water (earth is an active element, and water acts as the regulatory element). Elements of nature energized the human body in the form of three doshas which balance the energy for good health. The balance of

*An Insight on Nutraceutical Influences of Spice and Condiments: Serve as a Flavor and Immunity… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108749*

#### **Figure 1.**

*Spice & condiments use to pacify three doshas. Source: [14].*

tridoshas is unique to each person and different from one individual to another, which represents the body's natural state of equilibrium. The balance of these doshas produces good or bad consequences in the entire body [8–11].

"*Vaata pitta sleshmaana eva deha sambhava hetavah Taireva avyaapannaih adho madhyordhwa sannivishtaih Sariramidan dharyute aagaaramiya stoonaabhistisnubhih*".

Ayurvedic texts have a great description of the uses of spices and condiments in the prevention of diseases caused by these three doshas. For instance, the use of clove as a painkiller in dental emergencies, turmeric for microbial infection, skin disease and jaundice, basil for heart diseases, cinnamon to stimulate circulation, cardamom for headache, and mouth infections [2, 12]. An adequate amount of spice intake plays a vital role to pacify tridoshas [9, 13]. Some spices & condiments used to pacify three doshas are as follows (**Figure 1**).

### **3. Spice & condiments**

Spice is an aromatic and pungent dried part of the plants such as roots, stems, bark, leaves, bud, flowers, fruit, seeds, etc., which are used as food adjuncts for aroma and


**Figure 2.** *Spice & condiments for value-added products.*



*An Insight on Nutraceutical Influences of Spice and Condiments: Serve as a Flavor and Immunity… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108749*



**Table 1.**

*Status of major spices and condiments with their pharmacological content [16–19].*

*An Insight on Nutraceutical Influences of Spice and Condiments: Serve as a Flavor and Immunity… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108749*

flavor i.e., pepper, cardamom, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc., while condiments are also parts of plants which are used as food ingredients to enhance taste and flavor [12, 15]. So, spices and condiments are used for taste or flavoring, as well as preservatives, essential oils and coloring agents in many pharmaceutical and chemical industries (**Figure 2**). Along with being a taste enhancer, they are also known for rich nutraceutical properties which maintain the healthy immune system of the body. Specific phytochemical compounds are responsible for the aromatic, pungent, and coloring qualities of spice and condiments. These phytochemical compounds possess medicinal properties such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-mutagenic, anti-carcinogenic, anti-microbial, anti-arthritic, and hypoglycemic activity which are beneficial in the prevention of many diseases like diabetes, inflammatory, cardiovascular, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders. Some popular spices which are famous for their taste in every kitchen of the world and healing aid remedy are as follow- asfoetida, black paper, bay-leaf, carom seeds, capsicum, cardamom (small & large), coriander, cinnamon, clove, cumin, curry leaves, dill, fennel, fenugreek, ginger, garlic, mint, mustard, Nigella, nutmeg, onion, paprika, turmeric and vanilla, etc. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) listed 109 spices in the world of which 63 spices are grown in India. The list of major spice & condiments belonging to the land of India with their uses, principle phyto-constituents, and nutrient components are mentioned in **Table 1** [3, 15, 16, 20, 21, 25–28].
