The Role of Cardamom Oil in Oral Health: A Short Review

 

Pearley Jesylne, Subasree  Soundarajan , Karthikeyan Murthykumar, Meenakshi. M

BDS Students, Department of Biochemistry, Saveetha Dental College, Chennai

 

ABSTRACT:

Cardamom is a seed pod, known since antiquity for its culinary and medicinal properties. The spice is native to evergreen rain forest of southern India and now grown in only few tropical countries. Cardamom has also been found to regulate inflammatory and immune activities and may be useful for cancer  prevention. Cardamom extracts are effective against oral pathogenic bacteria like Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans. Most people use cardamom as a spice and are largely unaware of its numerous health benefits. This article briefs the various health benefits of cardamom.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Medicinal properties of various plant extract are widely explored to act as an alternative to synthetic antimicrobial agents. Cardamom also referred to as “queen of spices” due to its pleasant aroma and taste has a history as old as human race. Cardamom is native to the evergreen forests of India. Some of the health benefits of this peppery, citrusy spice are now making their way into modern studies. (1) Cardamom oil is extracted from  Elettaria cardomomum of the Zingiberaceae family and is also known as cardamomi, cardomum and Mysore cardamom. (2)

 

Scientific classification of cardamom:

Botanical name: Elettaria cardamomum

Kingdom: Plantae 

Order: Zingiberales 

Family: Zingiberaceae, the ginger family

Genera: Elettaria, Amomum

Other names: Cardamom, cardamon, true cardamom, green cardamom,
Elaichi, choti.

 

CARDAMOM- A PROFILE: 

The plant grows in a thick clump of up to 20 leafy shoots. It can reach a height of between 2 to almost 6 m. A perennial, reed-like herb which grows up to 10 feet high, with long, silky and blade-shaped leaves. Its long sheathing stems bear small, usually yellow, flowers with purple tips, followed by ovoid fruit. The fruit is about half an inch long, turning gray when ripe.(3)

 

Leaves - dark green, long and sword-shaped. The underside is paler and may have a covering of tiny hairs.

 

Flowers - on a long flowering stalk which can grow to more than 1 m long. They are both male and female and are pale green. One of the petals is white and streaked with violet.

 

Fruits - pale green to yellow and elongated oval-shape. Each fruit has 3 chambers filled with small aromatic seeds, each about 3 mm long. The fruits and seeds dry to a straw brown colour and are widely used as flavorings. (4)

 

EXTRACTION

The essential oil of Cardamom is extracted by steam distillation from the seeds of the fruit gathered just before they are ripe. The yield is 1-5 %.

 

 

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION

The main chemical components of cardamom oil are a-pinene, b-pinene, sabinene, myrcene, a-phellandrene, limonene, 1,8-cineole, y-terpinene, p-cymene, terpinolene, linalool, linalyl acetate, terpinen-4-oil, a-terpineol, a-terpineol acetate, citronellol, nerol, geraniol, methyl eugenol and trans-nerolidol.

 

TYPES OF CARDAMOM

Green cardamoms are the 'true' dried cardamom fruits and are sweetly fragrant with a slightly pungent flavour. Brown or black varieties of cardamom are larger, coarser in flavour and scent and tend to be used more in meat dishes and pickles. These 'false' cardamoms are found  in South Asia, China, Nepal, Indonesia, and Africa.

 

USES:

1. In Oral Health: 

• Bad Breath

Cardamom is one of the most effective remedies against halitosis. Simply chewing on the seeds eliminates bad odors. Cardamom is even used in some chewing gums because of its effectiveness, billed as a surefire cure to the most offensive breath. (5,6)

 

• Anti – carious 

Cardamom is widely used in South Asia to fight tooth and gum decay and disease. It can also be used to help soothe a sore throat and relieve hoarseness of voice. (7)

 

• Antiseptic and Antimicrobial:

Cardamom essential oil has very strong antiseptic and antimicrobial properties, which are safe as well. If used as a mouth wash by adding few drops of this oil in water, it disinfects the oral cavity of all germs. (8)

 

Gargling with an infusion of cardamom cures pharyngitis [inflammation of the mucous membrane of the pharynx], sore throat, relaxes uvula [the fleshy conical portion at the back of the tongue], and hoarseness during the infective stage of influenza. Gargling with this infusion daily can also be useful in averting bouts of flu.

 

2. Systemic Uses: 

• Digestive and Stomachic:

It is the essential oil in cardamom that makes it such a good digestive. This oil boosts digestion by stimulating the whole digestive system. It is also stomachic in nature, which means that it keeps the stomach healthy and functioning properly. It helps maintain the proper secretion of gastric juices, acids and bile in the stomach. It also protects the stomach from infections.

 

• Stimulant: 

Cardamom essential oil stimulates your entire system. This stimulating effect also boosts your spirits in cases of depression or fatigue. It also stimulates the secretion of various enzymes and hormones, gastric juices, peristaltic motion, circulation, and excretion, thus maintaining proper metabolic action throughout the body. (9)

 

• Warming:

Cardamom oil has a warming effect. This means that it heats up the body, promotes sweating, helps clear congestion and coughs, while also relieving symptoms of the common cold. It also provides relief from headaches that result from illness and can be used to cure diarrhea caused by extreme cold.

 

• Diuretic: 

It promotes urination, which helps people lose weight, lower blood pressure, remove toxins and clean calcium and urea deposits from the kidneys.

 

• Aphrodisiac: 

Cardamom oil has an arousing effect that can help cure sexual weakness, erectile dysfunctions, impotence, loss of libido, and frigidity.

 

3. Other Uses:

• Flavouring

 

Cardamom is widely used as a flavouring for savoury and sweet dishes in South Asia and the antibacterial properties of its oil are exploited as a food preservative. 

 

The dried fruits and seeds of cardamom are used to add a unique taste to rice, meat, vegetables and other savoury dishes. Whole and ground cardamom seeds are added to flavour coffee, tea, confectionery and baked goods. It is highly valued in Kashmir as an essential ingredient of the drink kahwa which is fragrant and sweet Kashmiri black tea.Cardamom oleoresin has similar applications to the essential oil. It is mainly used to flavour meat products with a short shelf life, such as sausages. (10)

 

 • Cancer Prevention

Cardamom contains IC3 (indole-3-carbinol) and DIM (diindolylmethane). These phytochemicals are well-known cancer fighters, helping to specifically ward off hormone-responding cancers like breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and prostate cancer. Early research suggests that consuming cardamom regularly may help with preventing these forms of cancer. In addition to these specific medicinal uses, cardamom contains an abundance of antioxidants, which protect the body against aging and stress, and fight common sicknesses and bodily strife. In rat studies, cardamom has been shown to increase glutathione, an antioxidant enzyme found naturally in our bodies.

 

• Ayurvedic medicine

In Ayurvedic medicine cardamom is used to treat disorders of the stomach and urinary system, asthma, bronchitis and heart problems. When mixed with neem and camphor, cardamom is used as a nasal preparation to treat colds. An infusion of cardamom can be used as a gargle to relieve sore throats, which has led to its use in cough sweets. (11) 

 

• Preservative

Because the oil has antibacterial activity it has been added to foods as a preservative at low levels. It is used in low quantities so it doesn't taint the flavour of the food. (12)

 

• Cosmetics and chewing gum

Cardamon oil is also used in cosmetics because of its cooling properties and it is a pale to colourless liquid that can be easily incorporated into different solutions. The taste is warm and spicy and can be used as a flavour to chewing gum.

 

OTHER BENEFITS: 

Cardamom oil helps to neutralize the effects of tobacco, insect bites and even the ingestion of mild poisons. Furthermore, it can clear the bowels, cure colic, remove bad breath, heal oral infections, and alleviate the pain of toothaches. (13)

 

References:

1.     http://www.sunwarrior.com/news/15-health-benefits-of-cardamom/

2.     Small Cardamom—Precious for People, Harmful for Mountain Forests, Teija Reyes, Olavi Luukkanen, and Roberto Quiroz. Mountain Research and Development Vol 26 No 2 May 2006: 131–137.

3.     http://www.kew.org/

4.     http://www.gritman.com/

5.     http://www.herbwisdom.com/

6.     Aneja K, Radhika J. Antimicrobial Activity of Amomum subulatum and Elettaria cardamomum against dental caries causing microorganisms. J Ethnobotanical 2009; 13: 840–9.

7.     Oral disorders http://completewellbeing.com/article/cardamom-the-queen-of-spices/

8.     Nanasombat S, Lohasupthawee P. Antibacterial activity of crude ethanolic extracts and essential oils of spices against salmonellae and other enterobacteria. J KMITL Sci Tech 2005; 5(3): 527-38.

9.     http://www.organicfacts.net/

10.   Kubo I, Himejima M, Muroi H. Antimicrobial activity of flavor components of cardamom Elettaria cardamomum (Zingiberaceae) seed. J Agric Food Chem 1991; 39: 1984–6.

11.   http://www.essentialoil.in/

12.   Sharma R. Cardamom comfort. Dent Res J 2012; 9(2): 237.

13.   Cohen LM, Collins FL Jr, Vanderveen JW, Weaver CC. The effect of chewing gum flavor on the negative affect associated with tobacco abstinence among dependent cigarette smokers. Addict Behav 2010;35:955-60.

 

 

 

Received on 10.12.2015          Modified on 20.12.2015

Accepted on 23.01.2016        © RJPT All right reserved