Profound benefits of following herbs make them significant in Ayurveda:
- Cinnamon
- Black pepper
- Turmeric
- Clove
- Gingely seeds
- Cumin seeds
- Mustard seeds
- Carom seeds
- Bay leaves
- Fenugreek seeds
- Asafoetida
- Red chillies
- Nutmeg
- Mace
- Coriander seeds
They are of the oldest spices treasured for their flavour, aroma and medicinal properties throughout the world.
They are among those grandma’s recipe used in treatment of cold, diarrhea, indigestion, fever, cough, toothache and even more.
The table below shows the antioxidant properties, thus prevents the onset and progression of many chronic diseases as cardiac, cancer, neurogenerative diseases.
Antioxidant activity
| No. | Name | DPPH*(Trollox equi) mg/ 100gm |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clove | 16532 |
| 2 | Cinnamon | 8030 |
| 3 | Nutmeg | 1438 |
| 4 | Mace | 1318 |
| 5 | Turmeric | 1088 |
| 6 | Cumin Seeds | 743 |
| 7 | Fenugreek Seeds | 417 |
| 8 | Pepper | 402 |
| 9 | Bay Leaves | 356 |
| 10 | Coriander Seeds | 263 |
| 11 | Red Chillies | 170 |
| 12 | Asafoetida | 129 |
Also, when many diseases have been attributed to inflammatory processes causing onset and maintenance of health disorders like rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, type-2 diabetes, cancer and chronic inflammatory bowel.
Many natural herbs have demonstrated eg. Nutmeg. Animal studies show a significant reduction in inflammation related pain in joints when ingested with nutmeg oil.
Also, many of these spice oils can be applied externally on affected area to relieve joint and muscle pain.