TIBBİ VE AROMATİK BİTKİLERİN ANTİMİKROBİYAL, ANTİOKSİDAN AKTİVİTELERİ VE KULLANIM OLANAKLARI

Abstract

According to the surveys of World Health Orgainization (WHO), the number of medicinal plants used for medical treatment is around 20.000 and they are also used for adding taste, odor and color to food since the ancient times. Due to the fact that natural plants and their associated essential oils are the raw materials used in many industries such as pharmaceutical industry, food, perfume and cosmetics, they have been studied in many research areas in terms of their antimicrobial impacts particularly from 1940 until today and significant results have been obtained. Plants showing antimicrobial activity are used as food preservatives, as anti-helminthic and anti-fungal for medicinal purposes as well as plant pests for combating weeds. Antioxidants are the systems that counteract the effects of free radicals. Nowadays, due to the increasing concerns about the reliability of synthetic antioxidants, the food industry has shown an intense interest on obtaining natural antioxidants from various plant materials. This situation has resulted in a gradual increase in the utilization of medicinal and aromatic plants, which has a big potential as a source of natural antioxidants, for the prevention of oxidation in the fatty foods such as meat, milk and bakery products. In this article, compiled information on the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of various medicinal and aromatic plants is provided, owing to their gradually increasing importance.