Holiday spices add more than just lovely aromas

The aroma of warm spices signals the holiday season: Imagine cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, and black pepper and you can almost sense holiday pies, hot cider, and cozy evenings with loved ones around a fireplace.

The holiday season’s aromatic traditions are a reminder of the importance of spices and herbs. They elevate foods’ flavor into the extraordinary with rich, complex flavors, they bring faraway worlds and memories to the table. 

They can also play an important part in wellness. 

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, supposedly said: “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food,” and prescribed spices and herbs collected in the Greek hills for healing. A spiced wine recipe containing cinnamon, cloves, allspice and honey is attributed to Hippocrates, and was advocated for many ailments – from the aches of the heart to those of the body. 

We now of course have more powerful and more targeted medications, but for some everyday conditions, and for prevention, science is providing evidence of the benefits of herbs and spices. Spices have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, have been shown to affect fat metabolism, and have been found to aid in several conditions (ginger for nausea, cinnamon for glucose control, curcumin for slowing tumor growth).

Spices and herbs contain many phenolic and terpene compounds, and are an antioxidant powerhouse.

Herbs, spices and the microbiome

One of the ways in which these foods affect health might be by feeding the microbes that live within us – they may help propagate the right kinds of microbes, and these microbes may break down the nutrients within herbs and spices into beneficial metabolites.

And a new study from Penn State University finds that even in the context of an average American diet, adding herbs and spices improves the gut microbiome.

The study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, gave 52 adults at risk of heart disease 3 different doses of a combination of herbs and spices, ranging from ⅛, to ¾ to 1½ teaspoons a day for 4 weeks for each dose. 

Adding herbs to the diet resulted in greater diversity of gut microbes, especially after consuming the medium and higher dose of herbs and spices. 

The authors conclude that: “This study suggests that incorporation of culinary doses of herbs and spices into an average American diet changes gut bacterial composition in adults at risk for CVD (cardiovascular disease). Further investigation of the metabolic implications of these bacterial changes is needed.”

The anti-inflammatory benefits

Another controlled study from Penn State University, looks at spices’ effect on inflammation.

The study tested twelve men who were overweight or obese, and who had at least one risk factor for heart disease, with three versions of 1000 calorie meals. One had no added spices, one had 2 grams of a spice mix (containing basil, bay leaf, black pepper, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, ginger, oregano, parsley, red pepper, rosemary, thyme, and turmeric) and the third meal had 6 grams, amounting to 1-2 teaspoons, of the blend. Blood was drawn before the meal, and hourly in the 4 hours after it, and was tested for inflammatory cytokines (cytokines mediate our immune reactions, recruiting inflammatory cells, stimulating the movement of cells towards sites of inflammation, and changing the behavior of blood vessels).White blood cells were also cultured and stimulated to respond to an inflammatory stimulus, resembling what could happen if the body’s attacked by a pathogen such as a virus.

And the results: Inflammatory cytokines were significantly reduced when 6 grams of herbs and spices are added to a meal.

The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of spices and herbs have been shown in other studies: A study of turmeric in people with obesity showed a reduction in cytokines IL-1β and IL-4, and ginger was shown to reduce circulating inflammatory markers in people with type 2 diabetes.

Healthy foods, and especially plant based whole foods, supply us with a whole array of nutrients that may help support health. Food, however, is much more than fuel for running our systems. Food is what connects us to nature, tradition, family, it brings joy! Wishing you a happy holiday season filled with tasty, aromatic, companionable food. 

Dr. Ayala