Dietary spices in health and diseases (II).

Dietary spices influence various systems in the body such as gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, reproductive and nervous systems resulting in diverse metabolic and physiologic actions. As inheritors of a long tradition of the use of spices in diet as well as in indigenous medicines we know that these are treatments often honed over centuries with well-established reputations for efficacy. A rigorous review of these manifold beneficial effects may provide a fair basis for prescription in many clinical conditions where confirmed modern drug treatments do not exist or as adjunct therapy to reduce the dosage or the risk of side effects. This essay attempts to adjudicate the traditional use of dietary spices based on factual research evidence for their multivalent actions as health promoting dietary additives as well as putative therapeutic agents.

Dietary spices in health and diseases: I.

Spices are heterogeneous collections of a wide variety of volatile and non-volatile staple dietary additives. India with its wide climatic conditions and topographical features naturally possesses wide variety of medicinal flora. Spices have a diverse array of natural phytochemicals that have complementary and overlapping actions, including antioxidant effects, modulation of detoxification enzymes, stimulation of immune system, reduction of inflammation, modulation of steroid metabolism and antibacterial and antiviral effects. In the present essay, various studies on effects of different well characterized spices on molecular, cellular, autocrine, paracrine and endocrine mechanisms and their role in neuromodulation, immunoinodulation, anti inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic, antimutagenic and psychoactive phenomena have been reviewed.

Gastro-intestinal effects of Indian spice mixture (Garam Masala).

Spices are a part of diet all over the world but the variety and quantity consumed in tropical countries is particularly significant. The intestinal transit time of Indians is shorter, and their stool weight larger than that of Europeans on a comparable fibre intake. Ingestion of chilli is associated with a faster whole gut transit time. There is hardly any human work on the effects of spices on intestinal transit or gastric emptying. To explore the effects of spices on gastro intestinal transit this study was conducted on 18 well nourished healthy human adult volunteers using Radiolabelled Idli with or without Garam Masala. On gastric scintigraphy the gastric emptying time was much faster in subjects when spicy meal was given. The t1/2 of the spicy meal, 40.09 +/- (p < 0.05) thus implying a faster transit through the stomach. In 17 out of the 18 subjects t1/2 of the spicy meal was consistently lower than that of spicefree meal. The lag phase of gastric emptying showed no significant difference. There was a tendency towards slower gastrocolic transit with Spicefree meal but more subjects need to be done to confirm this.

Autonomic dysfunction and peripheral vasodilatory response in diabetes.

Twenty three diabetes mellitus patients were investigated for peripheral vasodilatory response in relation to degree of autonomic dysfunction. The non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients had significant degree of autonomic dysfunction. Based on standard scoring system for evaluating autonomic dysfunction, diabetics were divided into 'borderline' (n = 12) and 'severe' (n = 11) diabetic autonomic neuropathy (DAN) groups. The severe DAN patients showed significantly lower pressor response when compared to borderline DAN patients. Severe DAN was also associated with significant peripheral vascular dysfunction. The severe DAN patients largely had no clinical manifestation of peripheral vascular dysfunction. Thus, at subclinical level patients with significant autonomic dysfunction do exhibit peripheral vascular dysfunction.

Vasopressor responses in autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxia.

Thirteen patients with autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxia were investigated for autonomic functions using standard tests. Patients showed no significant reduction in parasympathetic responses as measured by heart rate response to slow breathing and Valsalva manoeuvre. Measurement of blood pressure response to isometric exercise, cold exposure and 70 degrees head-up tilt showed a significant decrease in sympathetic pressor response.

Poor reliability of the first meal tolerance test.

The poor reproducibility of oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) has been known for a long time. Some recent reports indicate that postprandial glycaemia achieved during the test is likely to be higher on the first occasion than on subsequent visits. We have analysed our recent data on meal tolerance tests (MTT) from this angle. Fifteen healthy subjects and 9 subjects having NIDDM were administered two essentially identical meals one or two weeks apart. In case of healthy subjects, the absolute as well as incremental postprandial glycaemia achieved at 0.5 h and 1.0 h on the first visit was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than on the subsequent visit. The effect of visit was insignificant in case of NIDDM subjects. The effect observed in healthy subjects may be due to the release of adrenaline during the first visit brought about by apprehension. In NIDDM subjects the apprehension is likely to be much less because of their having undergone such tests in the past. Hence a single casual OGTT or MTT is unreliable as a diagnostic tool in borderline cases of impaired glucose tolerance test. The test needs to be repeated at least once more to eliminate false positives.