What is thyme?
Thyme is an herb that is often used to flavor food. It has also been used since ancient times for various health and medicinal benefits and as a preservative. Today, it is used in a variety of products, from mouthwashes to teas and even nasal sprays – as well as in the kitchen. With roots in the mint family, thyme has tiny sage-green leaves and thin stems. It is a robust, bushy plant with an intense smell and taste. It can be used fresh, dried or made into an essential oil. Although there are more than 60 species of thyme, Thymus vulgaris or garden thyme is the most common species used in cooking.
Health benefits of thyme
Many studies have been conducted on thyme species to determine their chemical composition. A large variety of chemical compounds as well as essential oils make up the main composition of thyme, which varies depending on the climate and geographical area. Research has shown that thyme contains 56,53% of monoterpenes, 28,69% of monoterpene hydrocarbons, 5,04% of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and 1,84% of oxygenated sesquiterpenes. Thyme is rich in many flavonoids and phenolic antioxidants such as zeaxanthin, lutein, pygenin, naringenin, luteolin and timonin. Fresh thyme has one of the highest levels of antioxidants because it is rich in minerals and vitamins that are essential for optimal health. Potassium, iron, calcium, manganese, magnesium and selenium are concentrated in the leaves, and the main ingredient of the extracted oil is thymol. Thymol is an important phenolic component that is mainly responsible for the antioxidant activity of thyme. The thyme flower stalk contains flavonoid derivatives such as apigenol and luteolol, phenolic acids such as caffeic and rosmarinic acid, and tannins.
Antiviral activity and new discoveries in COVID-19
Among other extracts from the Lamiaceae family, an aqueous extract of thyme was tested against herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) in a German study. The extract was able to inhibit both types of viruses in cell lines, affecting the viruses before they are adsorbed on the cell surface, but not affecting intracellular virus replication. This shed light on the prospects of these extracts for topical therapeutic use against recurrent herpes infections. The results were recently replicated by Toujani and colleagues, who showed that the ethanolic extract had the strongest antiviral activity by directly inactivating extracellular HSV-2 virions and, consequently, reducing their ability to spread to new cells. Along with rhinoviruses and influenza viruses, which are responsible for most acute viral respiratory infections, thyme has also been tested as an antiviral agent. In one study involving both viruses, thyme extract showed no anti-rhinoviral activity, but it did show antiviral activity against the influenza virus. Some studies have also shown promising antiretroviral properties of thyme, suggesting that it may interfere with essential viral functions of HIV-1.
Recently, with the coronavirus disease, COVID-19, confounding health systems and societies, intense efforts to develop effective preparations against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been highlighted, and natural compounds have been no exception. . In this connection, The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has listed thymol as a disinfectant with evidence for use against COVID-19, for disinfection of external hard surfaces and hands in healthcare, institutional or residential applications. Thyme essential oil has already shown efficacy against several RNA viruses, including human and feline coronaviruses. This has created prospects for future applications and therapeutic options for coronaviruses and modeling feline infections to study antiviral drugs against human coronaviruses. Javed and colleagues reviewed the biological and pharmacological properties of carvacrol in the context of COVID-19. The strong antioxidant and immunomodulatory effects of this compound are believed to improve cellular immunity and interfere with ACE2 receptors, therefore, they can block the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into the cell. In addition, carvacrol interacts with the viral protease and inhibits the binding of the viral spike glycoprotein (S) to the host cell. In a computational assessment study of plant essential oils, thymol was coupled to the S1 binding domain of the S receptor, which is a key target for new antiviral drugs, to determine its inhibitory effects based on binding affinity. It has been shown to be effective in inhibiting the viral spike protein, promising to be an interesting phytochemical alternative therapy for COVID-19 and to represent a natural compound with antiviral activity and molecular fusion techniques. A summary of some of the studies discussed in the original.
Antineoplastic activity
Cancer is considered a serious threat globally. It is considered the leading cause of death worldwide, causing almost ten million deaths in 2020, and is a growing threat with an expected increase in incidence of 47 percent by 2040. Chemotherapy antitumor drugs traditionally used to treat cancer patients have shown high cytotoxicity to tumor as well as normal tissues. Therefore, the search for new therapeutic options, including medicinal plants and their phytochemicals, is being promoted due to the lower risk of side effects compared to standard chemotherapy drugs. Numerous studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of various medicinal plant extracts and their ability to harm cancer cells through various molecular mechanisms, including intrinsic or extrinsic apoptosis, autophagy, and caspase-dependent necroptosis. Thyme contains numerous compounds, especially the monoterpenoid phenols carvacrol and thymol, which have great potential for use in strengthening immunity due to their pharmacological properties. Carvacrol and thymol have shown anticancer effects in different types of cell lines that mimic human cancers and have shown their potential as chemopreventive or anticancer agents in different types of cancer. Their main mechanisms of action against cancer include induction of apoptosis, inhibition of cell growth (antiproliferative effect), increase in ROS production, mitochondrial membrane depolarization, activation of Bax proapoptotic mitochondrial proteins, inhibition of angiogenesis, interaction with caspase or poly-ADP ribose polymerase , and reducing tumorigenesis by modulating the activity of carcinogen-metabolizing enzymes.
Antibacterial action
The antiseptic properties of thyme as an aromatic and medicinal plant have been known since ancient times, and since the sixteenth century it has been used to treat malaria. The British herbal pharmacopoeia classifies thyme as a medicinal herb, and among the indications for its use it lists bronchitis, bronchial catarrh, whooping cough and sore throat, and recommendations for combining it with other herbs are also given. Attempts to characterize the antimicrobial properties of thyme in the laboratory date back to the early 1900s. Thyme essential oil has been recognized to exhibit significant antibacterial activity associated with the phenolic components, carvacrol and thymol, and many studies have elaborated on this property. For example, in 2014, Borugă and colleagues evaluated the antibacterial effects of T. vulgaris essential oil, where the reference strains were S. aureus ATCC 25923, K. pneumoniae ATCC 13882, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 14028, P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853, E. coli ATCC 25922 and Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 were exposed to different concentrations of essential oil. The study found that thyme essential oil was mostly effective against S. aureus and K. pneumoniae, while its potency against other strains was dose-dependent. The results showed that the essential oil has strong antimicrobial properties and can be a new birthplace of natural antiseptics used in the pharmaceutical and food industries.
Burt and Reinders investigated the effect of thyme essential oil on an intestinal pathogen E. coli O157:H7, which remains an important contaminant in food production, needs to be effectively eliminated from meat, milk, water, vegetables, fruit and fruit. juices. Thyme essential oil was shown to possess significant in vitro colicidal and colistatic activity over a wide temperature range, and this was significantly enhanced by the addition of agar as a stabilizer to the test medium. These findings indicated that thyme essential oil could be further tested for use in the food industry to improve food safety. Furthermore, in beef and cheese systems, thyme oil showed a protective effect against Escherichia coli.
In an evaluation of 25 different plant essential oils against indoor Aspergillus species, a study by Helbová et al. proved that thyme oil, in combination with lemongrass oil, is the strongest synergistic antifungal agent against A. fumigatus. A synergistic combination may be useful for controlling fungal growth or reducing resistance to available synthetic antifungals. Thymol has approximately three times the inhibitory potential compared to thyme essential oil and was able to produce long-lasting suppressive activity against various genera of molds including Aspergillus, Penicillium, Ulocladium, Absidia, Mucor, Cladosporium, Trichoderma, Rhizopus and Chaetomium, isolated from the shavings of the walls of damp apartments in Croatia. This indicated the possibility of using thymol or thyme essential oil in low concentrations to disinfect moldy walls.
Here's what else you need to know.
Substitute for salt. As a substitute for salt when cooking, you can use fresh or dried thyme. This can help you reduce the amount of salt you use, which is important if you're trying to lower high blood pressure.
Respiratory support: natural cough suppressant. Thyme has been used for years for coughs, respiratory problems and bronchitis. Complementary and alternative medicine used it as a tea and in aromatherapy. There is some research on this, but more studies are needed to know how well it works. A small 2013 study tested a nasal spray containing a thyme extract called thymol in 18 healthy people with normal lung function. They used a nasal spray before and after inhaling some capsaicin, which would naturally make them cough. They coughed less when using thymol spray, compared to saline or placebo spray. Larger studies are needed to verify these results. Compounds in thyme—specifically thymol and carvacrol—may also help relieve chest congestion, and the researchers suggested studying whether thyme, in the amounts you'd get from food or tea, could do this.
Antimicrobial properties. Thyme essential oil and pure thymol (extracted from thyme) can help disinfect mold, according to one study. Thymol is an active ingredient in some pesticides. In a mold study, it was about 3 times more effective than thyme essential oil.
Help with skin conditions. Thyme's anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties can also help with skin conditions. It can help deal with bacterial infections while also helping to reduce inflammation. As a result, it can help with irritation and inflammation in conditions like eczema and acne.
Natural insect repellent. Thyme oil can help repel insects such as mosquitoes. Thyme oil, thymol, is often used as an active ingredient in insect repellents.
Gastrointestinal health. In experimental studies on rats, compounds extracted from thyme oil helped protect the stomach lining from ulcers and increased the protective layers of gastric mucus in the stomach, which helps protect the stomach lining from acid. But the effects of thyme on the digestive system have not been studied in humans, so much more research is needed. The antimicrobial properties of thyme have shown promise for the development of extracts to aid in food safety.
Original:
Caspian Journal of Internal Medicine: "Comparative effect of thymus vulgaris and ibuprofen on primary dysmenorrhea: A triple-blind clinical study."
Complementary Therapies in Medicine: "The prevalence and predictors of herbal medicine usage among adult rheumatoid arthritis patients: A case-control study."
European Respiratory Journal: "Urge to cough is significantly abolished by nasal thymol application."
International Immunopharmacology: "Thymol attenuates the worsening of atopic dermatitis induced by Staphylococcus aureus membrane vesicles."
Journal of Intercultural Ethnopharmacology: "Use of traditional plants in management of halitosis in a Moroccan population."
Letters in Applied Microbiology: "Antifungal activity of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) essential oil and thymol against molds from damp dwellings."
United States Environmental Protection Agency: “EPA RED Facts Thymol.”
Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology: "Labitae Allergy: Systemic Reactions Due to Ingestion of Oregano and Thyme."
Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal: "The Potential Gastrointestinal Health Benefits of Thymus Vulgaris Essential Oil: A Review."
FoodData Central: “Thyme, fresh” and “Spices, thyme, dried.”
Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School: "The importance of potassium."
Journal of Applied Biology and Biotechnology: "Medicinal and Functional Values of Thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) Herb.”
Journal of Herbal Pharmacotherapy: "Thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.), Thymol."
Journal of Lipid Research: "Carvacrol, a component of thyme oil, activates PPARα and γ and suppresses COX-2 expression."
Journal of Nutrition and Health: "Potential use of Rosemary, Propolis and Thyme as Natural Food Preservatives."
Journal of Obesity: "Effects of Thyme Extract Oils (from Thymus vulgaris, Thymus zygis, and Thymus hyemalis) on Cytokine Production and Gene Expression of oxLDL-Stimulated THP-1-Macrophages."
Nutrition Today: "Thyme: History, Applications, and Overview of Potential Health Benefits."
Oregon State University, Linus Pauling Institute: “Manganese.”
Osiris: "Thyme as a Condiment in the Graeco-Roman Era."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9147557/
