Common Medicines from Herbs, Minerals and Animal Sources
Mehwish Iqbal in Complementary and Alternative Medicinal Approaches for Enhancing Immunity, 2023
Cardamom belongs to the family Zingiberaceae; it is a commercially important and high-priced spice globally in demand. Though it is native to Sri Lanka and India, it is also cultivated in Tanzania, Guatemala, Laos, the Malay Archipelago, Thailand, Cambodia, El Salvador and Papua New Guinea, with Guatemala being the greatest producer of cardamom in the world (Aghasi et al., 2018; Cyriac et al., 2016). According to the ancient Ayurvedic literature, cardamom spice has been used to assist digestion and reduce fat. Egyptians of previous times consumed Elettaria cardamomum as a refresher for the mouth. In Indian cuisine, cardamom is extensively utilised as a spice. Fruit is the most consumable part of the plant, while its essential oils and seeds are utilised as flavouring constituents in a range of edibles, including meat and its products, baked food, beverages, condiments, candy and desserts. Ancient Egyptians masticated cardamom seeds to enhance the whiteness of their teeth, and ancient Greeks imported them till the fourth century BC; the Greek physician of the first century, Pedanius Dioscorides, mentions cardamom in his book De Materia Medica (Sengottuvelu, 2011).
Maritime Routes through Sri Lanka: Medicinal Plants and Spices
Raymond Cooper, Jeffrey John Deakin in Natural Products of Silk Road Plants, 2020
Cardamom can be found in the central hill country of Sri Lanka where the elevation is 600 m above sea level. The regions including Kandy, Matale, Kegalle, Nuwara Eliya, Rathnapura, and a part of Galle are the major growing districts of the country (Karalliedde and Gawarammana, 2008). Cardamom is commonly known as the “Queen of Spices” and is a perennial herbaceous plant with a pseudo stem and thick irregular shaped rhizomes. Three types of cardamom are found in Sri Lanka, and they are categorized based on the shape of the inflorescence: Malabar – inflorescence is prostrateMysore – inflorescence is verticalVazhukka – inflorescence is inclined.
Potential of Spices As Medicines and Immunity Boosters
Amit Baran Sharangi, K. V. Peter in Medicinal Plants, 2023
Cardamom of commerce is the dried seed capsule of a group of plants belonging to the family Zingiberaceae. Small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton), native to India, is known as the ‘Queen of spices’ is cultivated commonly in the southern states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. Kazemi et al. (2017) have investigated supplementation effects of cardamom in obese pre-diabetic women (population size of 80), with high lipid levels in blood, with regards to their inflammation and oxidative stress, thus reducing complications associated with it. Cardamom is added as an enhancer of immune responses, in the pharmaceutical industry, to drugs which are carminative, stomachic. It is a common home remedy for indigestion, morning sickness, oral odor, bronchial infections, skin diseases, inflammations, itching, and poisons.
Antioxidant and vasorelaxant effects of aqueous extract of large cardamom in L-NAME induced hypertensive rats
Published in Clinical and Experimental Hypertension, 2020
S K Kanthlal, Jipnomon Joseph, Bindhu Paul, Vijayakumar M, Uma Devi P
Spices are a source of various phytochemicals that have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and vasodilatory effects. Hence, these agents may provide a cost effective means of managing different diseases including hypertension (11–13). Large cardamom (Amomum subulatum Roxb of family Zingiberaceae) a well-known flavoring spice native to India and Southeast Asia has been used to treat various ailments in different medicinal systems world over. The seeds of large cardamom are a good source of tonic molecules for heart, stomach, liver and kidney (14). The seeds contain cardamonin, alpinetin and glycosides such as cyanidin-3-glucoside, petunidin 3,5-diglucoside, leucocyanidin-3-О-β-d-glucopyranoside, subulin, protocatechuic acid, etc (15). The ethnomedical exploration proved that one teaspoonful of cardamom powder (including seeds and pericarp), if taken twice a day, will benefit the patients with cardiac disorders (16). Moreover, cardamonin and alpinetin are able to induce endothelium-dependent and -independent relaxation of arteries through multiple mechanisms which may contribute to their beneficial effects in the treatment of vascular disorders (17). Cyanidin-3-glucoside protects vascular endothelial cell inflammation induced by angiotensin-II by enhancing the production of superoxide dismutase (18). However, there are no scientific reports available on the effects of large cardamom in N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME)-induced hypertensive rats.
Anti-Inflammatory Potential Exhibited by Amomum subulatum Fruits Mitigates Experimentally Induced Acute and Chronic Inflammation in Mice: Evaluation of Antioxidant Parameters, Pro-Inflammatory Mediators and HO-1 Pathway
Published in Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2021
Sudarsanan Drishya, Suresh Sulekha Dhanisha, Chandrashekharan Guruvayoorappan
Natural products have long been used as remedies for treating numerous human diseases. For centuries culinary spices have been used as food preservatives and health supplements besides their use as organoleptic enhancers (8). Amomum subulatum Roxb. (Zingiberaceae), also known as black cardamom or large cardamom, is one of such culinary spices native to eastern Himalayas. It is also grown in Sikkim, Assam, Nepal and West Bengal. Its fruits are of high nutritional value and 100 g of its powder is composed of 68.47 g carbohydrates, 10.76 g protein, 6.70 g fat, 1.12 g potassium, 0.383 g calcium, 178 mg phosphorus, 18 mg sodium, 13.97 mg iron, 1.102 mg niacin, 0.198 mg thiamin, 0.182 mg riboflavin and traces of vitamin A (9). In traditional medicine, its fruits were used against ulcer, inflammation, throat diseases, bleeding disorders, skin diseases etc (10). However, there aren’t enough scientific evidences to proofread its folkloric use.
Aqueous extract of large cardamom inhibits vascular damage, oxidative stress, and metabolic changes in fructose-fed hypertensive rats
Published in Clinical and Experimental Hypertension, 2021
Kanthlal SK, Arya VS, Bindhu Paul–Prasanth, Vijayakumar M, Rema Shree AB, Uma Devi P
The large cardamom fruit used in this study was obtained from the Spices Board of India. The fruit was processed as per the standard guidelines and regulations of the board. A voucher specimen (ASP/Cog08S) was deposited at the School of Pharmacy, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, AIMS Kochi, Kerala. The plant name was checked with The Plant List (TPL) database http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-219503 the website being accessed on February 3, 2019. Using a mixer grinder, the dried fruit was pulverized and passed through mesh no. 400 to get a dry, coarse powder. In a 250 mL sterile Erlenmeyer flask, 5 grams of large cardamom powder was soaked for 30 minutes in 100 ml of distilled water. The flask was stoppered with cotton (sterile) and boiled until 1/4th (25 mL) volume was reached (23). The solution was filtered through a muslin cloth. Using an IKA-RV-10 rotary vacuum evaporator (55°C at 7 mbar), the concentrated extract was then evaporated for dryness. Throughout the course of the experiment, the extract was maintained in the desiccator.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Ayurveda
- Elettaria
- Essential Oil
- Garden Cress
- Limonene
- Myrcene
- Terpineol
- Elettaria Cardamomum
- Black Cardamom
- Menthone