Physiological Activities of Commercial Instant Curry Powders and Individual Spices

Physiological activities of hot water extracts of 10 commercial instant curry powders and 6 spices, were investigated. All spice extracts except ginger showed significant antioxidant activities on the autoxidation of linoleic curry acid (p＜0.01). Antioxidant activities of clove and fennel were significantly higher than , instant curry powders, and other spices, Red pepper , clove, and coriander showed significant inhibitory activities against angiotensin-I-converting enzyme (p＜0.001). Cytotoxic effects of instant curry powder and spices against human cancer cell lines were examined through MTT assay. Black pepper and cardamon were effective against MCF-7 (p＜0.01), Clove against HeLa (p＜0.01). Ginger , cardamon, and black pepper against A172 (p＜0.001), garlic against SN12C (p＜0.001), garlic , red pepper, ginger, fenugreek, SPC, cumin, and MPC against SNU-638 (p＜0.001), and cassia against A549 (p＜0.001).