Oregano Much more than a hot, spicy Italian!

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 that 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 digestion, 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 that 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. Siddiqui 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 block 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.