Dietary Spices in Health and Diseases

Spices are heterogeneous collections of a wide variety of volatile and non-vo la t i l e s t ap le d ie ta ry add i t ives . Ind ia wi th i t s wide c l ima t i c condit ions and topographical features natural ly possesses wide variety of medicinal flora. Spices have a diverse array of natural phytochemicals that have complementary and overlapping actions, including antioxidant effects, modula t ion o f de tox i f i ca t ion enzymes , s t imula t ion o f immune sys tem, reduc t ion o f in f l ammat ion , modula t ion o f s t e ro id metabo l i sm and antibacterial and antiviral effects. In the present essay, various studies on effects of different well characterized spices on molecular, cellular, autocrine, paracr ine and endocr ine mechanisms and the i r ro le in neuromodula t ion , immunomodula t ion , an t i in f l ammatory , an t iox idan t , an t i ca rc inogen ic , ant imutagenic and psychoact ive phenomena have been reviewed.