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Spices have fueled empires, started wars, made millionaires, and at many periods were more valuable than gold. But before they began filling up kitchen pantries, they were used as medicine.
Today, the Ayurvedic outpatient system in India sees millions of visitors who have conditions like respiratory infections and fever treated with mixtures of herbs and spices—but not special mythical ones growing in sheltered caves in the Himalayas—rather they use many things we recognize from our own pantries like ginger, turmeric, cumin, and cloves.
We cook with such ingredients every day, and as debates between whether national dietary guidelines should include red meat, eggs, dairy, grains, various combinations of these, or be entirely plant-based, there is very little ever said about the importance of herbs and spices.
In the most recent USDA Dietary Guidelines, a control-F search for the word “spice” yields two hits, both of which discuss spices and herbs as flavoring agents, but say nothing of their nutrient density.
Why is this important? Meat contains far more key vitamins and minerals like vitamin A, iron, zinc, and B vitamins than plants, but nutritionists advise the consumption of fruits and vegetables primarily for two reasons: fiber, and phytonutrients.
Phytonutrients are a class of micronutrients found exclusively in plants. They include the likes of peperine, curcumin, gingerol, cinnamic acid, rosemarinic acid, and literally thousands more. Other bywords for phytonutrients that have made it into the vernacular are polyphenols carotenoids, and turpines.
These compounds are responsible for everything good in plants along with fiber, and have dozens of medicinal and fitness-enhancing effects, some researched, some not. However, a recent educational pamphlet from the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt compiling the value of spices and herbs says that you can’t get phytonutrients solely from vegetables.
