Role of Spices in Offering Natural Immunity to Fight Various Diseases

Abstract

Adequate nutrition intake is one of main factors to strengthen immunity. Traditional and cultural practices of food consumption involve use of several spices in limited quantities as part of food. Spices have offered versatile biological effects due to presence of valuable biochemicals. The aim of the present paper is to review published scientific evidence on potential role of spices in offering innate and adaptive immunity to human body. It has been demonstrated that, turmeric, one of the widely used spices, acts as an anti-viral agent through inhibition of viral entry into cells, suppression of viral replication and modulation of cytokines. A field study revealed that nations with higher consumption of spices have shown lesser COVID-19 cases and higher recovery rates. Further, spices also have shown to possess antioxidant activity superior or equivalent to ascorbic acid and are known to regulate inflammation processes. Evidence generated from the published literature is compelling to arrive at a conclusion that consumption of spices might improve immunity there by offering protection against various diseases including COVID-19. It is also noted that there are lesser number of human clinical trials in this area which warrants immediate attention to provide scientific evidence to immunity offered by spices. Key words: COVID-19, Spices, Immunity, Diet, Nutrition.