By JAMES J . GORMLEY for the Vitamin Retailer (January 2007)
In the old section of the beautiful city of Wroclaw in southwestern
Poland, there's an amazing pizzeria that has, by many accounts, some of the best
pizza in Europe. Guess what its name is?
Oregano!
We all know that your customers enjoy a pinch of it on their pizza, a
sprinkle of it on their spinach and a touch of it on their tortellini. But
are your customers also aware t hat there's so much more to this culinary hottie
than meets the tearing eye?
"Virtually everyone is familiar with oregano, largely because of its
popularity in pizza, spaghetti and other Italian fare," wrote Cass Ingram, D.O.,
in Supermarket Remedies. " However, few people realize that the oregano found in
the supermarket, as well as that used by t he local pizza palace, may not
be truly oregano."
Often the fast-food oregano is a plant known as Mexican oregano, a type of
sage brush completely unrelated to oregano. Looking back into the history of
true oregano, in ancient Greece newlyweds would be crowned with oregano.
While the French used oregano in soaps and the English in herbal snuff, the
Germans used it to season sausage.
Oregano, or Origanum vulgare, called
"joy of the mountain" in Greek, belongs to the mint (Lamiaceae) family and is
related to both marjoram and thyme. Virtually unknown to most Americans
until U.S. soldiers came back from World War II singing its praises, oregano's
kissing cousins include: mint, basil and sage.
Is it oregano or marjoram?
According to food writer, Linda Gilbert, although all marjorams are oreganos
(since the genus name for both is Origanum), all oreganos are not marjorams .
Oregano is the genus of which sweet marjoram (Origanum marjorana) is but one
variety. Does oregano have phytomedicinal value? Aside from helping
with digest ion, and stimulating the flow of bile, there is a fascinating body
of research on the benefits of this spice. For one thing , oregano has
antioxidant powers that qualify it as a powerful phytomedicinal, with compounds
verified by the European Pharmacopoeia 5.0 t hat include carvacrol and thymol.
Antioxidant Powerhouse!
"The ORAC [measure of antioxidant activity] on oregano is 3,000, which is 50
times more potent than the antioxidative power of wild blueberries," said Dr.
Cass Ingram of Buffalo Grove, IL based North American Herb & Spice.
A 1993 study by Greek researchers tested oregano leaf extracts (flavonoids)
on different products: lard, vegetable oils, etc. The flavonoids
stabilized lard against oxidation, and showed antioxidant powers when tested on
vegetable oils during storage or frying conditions.
More recently, in 2000, a group of Italian researchers measured the
antioxidant properties of extracts of oregano and found that oregano oil was
effective in all areas of antioxidative activity: neutralizing free radicals;
blocking peroxidation; and interrupting fat-radical chain reactions.
Antiviral, Antifungal Antibacterial Powers
In 1996, YM. Siddiqu i and colleagues examined the antiviral actions of
oregano and clove oils against RNA and DNA viruses. The antiviral powers of
oregano oil were made clear. A look through the microscope showed that the
viruses' outer protective membrane "disintegrated" after exposure to the
oregano
oil.
In another 1996 paper, which appeared in the Journal of Agricultural Food
Chemistry, researchers tested extracts from
oregano oil against eight strains of
bacteria, such as: Escherichia coli (otherwise affectionately known as E. coli,
and sometimes found in poorly packaged juice products and elsewhere),
Salmonella, staph, Bacillus and other nasties. The findings? The essential
oil of oregano was "extremely bactericidal" (antibacterial), even at very dilute
concentrations. Even watered down preparations caused "considerable
decrease in bacterial growth rates."
Toward the end of 1998, Dutch researchers looked at the effectiveness of one
of oregano's most potent compounds, carvacrol (mentioned earlier), against the
food-borne baddy, Bacillus cereus. The results showed that the compound was
effective against this bug in a dose-dependent manner - from total b lock on
growth (for the top concentration) to reducing spread of the Bacillus bacteria
(for the lowest).
Also in 1998, another group of researchers published their results in the
Journal of Essential Oil Research in which they examined the anti germ powers of
five aromatic Sicilian plants: laurel, sage, rosemary, oregano and coriander.
While all of the plant extracts showed impressive germ killing (antimicrobial)
effects, the "highest and broadest activity was shown by the oil of oregano."
Encourage your customers to continue spicing things up with
oregano on their
food - but also let them know that if they want to tap into the true health
promoting benefits of this healing plant, there are high-potency supplements (in
liquids, capsules and other forms) available in your store that are infinitely
more beneficial.
References
Baratta MT, et al. "Chemical composition, antimicrobial
and antioxidative activity of laurel, sage, rosemary, oregano and coriander
essential oils." J Essent Oil Res 10 (6):618-627, Nov-Dec 1998.
Cervato G, et al. "Antioxidant properties of oregano (Origanum
vulgare) leaf extracts," J Food Biochem 24(6):453-465, 2000.
European Pharmacopoeia 5.0. European Directorate for the
Quality of Medicines & Health Care. Chromatogram for the assay of thymol and
carvacrol of oregano. Entry for: oregano, Organi herba, Figure 1880.
[website], January 2005.
Russo M, et al . "Essential oil chemical composition of
wild populations of Italian oregano spice (Origanum vulgare ssp. Hirtum): A
preliminary evaluation of their use in chemotaxonomy by cluster analysis," J
Agric Food Chem 46(9)3741-3746, 1998.
Siddiqui YM, et al. "Effect of essential oils on the
enveloped viruses: antiviral activity of oregano oils on herpes simplex
virus type I and Newcastle disease virus," Med Sci Res 24(3): 185-1 86,
1996.
Sivropoulou A, et al. "Antimicrobial and cytotoxic
activities of Origanum essential oils," J Agric Food Chem 44:1202-1205,
1996.
Ultee A, et al . "Bactericidal activity of carvacrol
towards the food-borne pathogen Bacillus cereus," J Appl Microbio/85(2)
:211218,1998.
Vekiari SA, et al. "Oregano flavonoids as lipid
antioxidants, " JAOCS 70(5):483-487, 1993.
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