Chapter 15 - Pharmaceutical, Nutraceutical and Therapeutic Properties of Selected Wild Medicinal Plants: Thyme, Spearmint, and Rosemary

Abstract

Historically, edible wild plants have been used as medical components throughout different regions of the world (e.g., China, Jordan, Egypt, Greece). Over the past decade, their possible applications in the food and drug industries have been extensively researched, due to renewed interest in novel bioactive phytochemicals with nutraceutical and pharmaceutical properties. The main bioactive compounds currently recognized in medicinal wild plants are phenolic compounds, volatile, and essential oil components, and small chain peptides. Unique chemical features of phenolics from wild medicinal plants have a broad range of applications in the health sector as functional food ingredients, nutraceuticals, dietary supplements, and drugs. Numerous studies have shown phenolic extracts to have anticancer, antiviral, antiinflammatory, hypolipidemic, antioxidant, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, and hypoglycemic effects in vivo, due to the ability of phenolics to interact with biological molecules such as DNA, hormones, and enzymes (e.g., angiotensin-I converting enzyme [ACE], α-glucosidase, and α-amylase), and to modulate cell-signaling pathways and epigenetic modifications. This chapter will cover the chemical, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical properties of selected wild medicinal herbs (thyme, spearmint, and rosemary) and their phenolic constituents.