Year: 2026 | Month: April | Volume: 13 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 418-421
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20260442
Nutritional and Functional Role of Spices in Human Health and Diet
Priyadharshini J1, Dr A. Priya2
1,2Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Dr N. G. P. Arts and Science College, Coimbatore
Corresponding Author: Priyadharshini J
ABSTRACT
Spices are plant-based ingredients widely used in cooking to improve the taste, smell, and appearance of food, and they also provide important nutritional and health benefits. They contain many bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, and essential oils, which together show strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and metabolism-supporting effects. Traditional medical systems, including Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine, have long used spices like turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, and chili to manage digestive problems, infections, pain, and inflammatory conditions, and many of these uses are now supported by modern scientific studies. Experimental and clinical research indicates that spice-derived compounds such as curcumin, cinnamaldehyde, piperine, gingerol, and capsaicin can support cardiovascular health, improve blood sugar control in diabetes, modulate immune responses, and show promising anti-cancer effects by acting on key signaling pathways like NF-κB and MAPK. Spices also help digestion, influence gut microbiota, and may increase energy use through thermogenic actions. Their use in functional foods, nutraceuticals, and herbal beverages is increasing, although there are still challenges related to bioavailability, dose standardization, product quality, and the limited number of well-designed human clinical trials. Overall, regular intake of a variety of spices in the daily diet represents a simple, low-cost approach to support public health, as long as issues of safety, processing, and standardization are properly addressed.
Keywords: spices; bioactive compounds; antioxidant activity; anti-inflammatory effects; functional foods; cardiovascular health; diabetes; immune modulation; anti-cancer potential; bioavailability.
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