Bactericidal and anti-adhesive properties of culinary and medicinal plants against Helicobacter pylori

Table 1 Plants used in the study

English name	Sri Lankan name	Scientific name	Part of the plant used	Source	Use
Bengal quince	Belly	Aegle marmelos	Root	Sri Lanka	In cooking & medicine
Black caraway (Europe)/Black Cumin (USA)		Nigella sativa	Seeds	UK, Supermarket	In cooking & medicine
Black pepper	Gammiris	Piper nigrum	Seed berries/fruit	UK, Supermarket	In cooking & medicine
Black tea	Thee	Camellia sinensis	Leaves and shoots	Sri Lanka	In cooking
Borage (Starflower)		Borago officinalis	Flowers	Iran	In cooking & medicine
Chilli	Mirise	Capsicum anunum	Fruit	Sri Lanka	In cooking & medicine
Cinnamon	Curundu	Cinnamomum verum	Bark	UK, Supermarket	In cooking & medicine
Columbo weed	Veneval	Coscinium fenestratum	climbing root	Sri Lanka	In medicine
Coriander	Kottamalli	Coriandrum sativum	Seeds	Sri Lanka	In cooking & medicine
Cumin (small cumin)	Suduru	Cuminum cyminum	Seeds	Sri Lanka	In cooking & medicine
Dilla	Sududuru	Anthum graveolens	Leaves	UK, Supermarket	In cooking & medicine
Fenugreek	Mathe seeds	Trigonella foenum-graecum	Seeds	Sri Lanka	In cooking & medicine
Garlica	Sudulunu	Allium sativum	Bulb	UK, Supermarket	In cooking & medicine
Ginger	E'guru	Zingiber officinale	Rhizome	Sri Lanka	In cooking & medicine
Liquorice	Val'mee	Glycyrrhiza glabra apofosa	Stem	Sri Lanka	In cooking & medicine
Long pepper	Tiphili	Piper longum	Seeds	Sri Lanka	In cooking & medicine
Nightshade	Ela battu	Solanum surattense	Fruit and root	Sri Lanka	In medicine
Nutmeg	Sadikka	Myristica fragans	Kernel	UK, Supermarket	In cooking & medicine
Oreganoa	Oregano	Origanum vulgare	Leaves	UK, Supermarket	In cooking & medicine
Parsleya	Parsley	Petroselinum crispum	Leaves	UK, Supermarket	In cooking & medicine
Sagea	Minchi	Salvia officinalis	Leaves	UK, Supermarket	In cooking & medicine
Tarragona	Tarragon Path	Artemisia dracunculoses/dracunculus	Leaves	UK, Supermarket	In cooking & medicine
Threadstem carpetweed	Paradagam	Mollugo cerviana	Seeds	Sri Lanka	In medicine
Turmeric	Kaha	Curcuma longa	Rhizome	Sri Lanka	In cooking & medicine
Yellow-berried nightshade	Katu val batu	Solanum xanthocarpum	Whole plant	Sri Lanka	In medicine

These plants were bought as both fresh and dried material.

Table 2 Bactericidal activity of plants against Helicobacter pylori, determined using viable colony count. ‘% inhibition of growth’ indicates the percentage of bacteria that were killed by the plants, (i.e. the colonies did not grow), compared to the control.

			H pylori clinical strains
Plant name		NCTC strain	1	2	3	4	5	6
Turmeric	% inhibition of growth	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
	Minimum of time (min)	15	15	15	15	15	15	15
Ginger	% inhibition of growth	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
	Minimum of time (min)	30	30	30	30	30	30	30
Fenugreek	% inhibition of growth	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Cumin (small cumin)	% inhibition of growth	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
	Minimum of time (min)	30	30	30	30	30	30	30
Coriander	% inhibition of growth	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Chilli	% inhibition of growth	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
	Minimum of time (min)	30	30	30	30	30	30	30
Bengal quince	% inhibition of growth	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Columbo weed	% inhibition of growth	99.9	99.9	99.9	99.5	99.8	99.9	99.8
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Yellow-berried nightshade	% inhibition of growth	99.9	99.7	99.5	99.9	99.9	99.9	99.9
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Liquorice	% inhibition of growth	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	30
Nightshade	% inhibition of growth	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Long pepper	% inhibition of growth	99.9	99.9	100	99.3	99.7	99.9	99.9
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Threadstem carpetweed	% inhibition of growth	99.9	99.7	99.9	99.9	99.9	99.9	99.9
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Garlic	% inhibition of growth	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Parsley	% inhibition of growth	99.6	99.3	99.9	99.6	99.9	99.99	99.8
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Dill	% inhibition of growth	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Sage	% inhibition of growth	99.9	99.9	99.7	99.5	99.9	99.9	99.9
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Oregano	% inhibition of growth	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
	Minimum of time (min)	30	30	30	30	60	30	30
Tarragon	% inhibition of growth	96.9	99.4	99.2	99.9	99.9	99.9	99.9
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Nutmeg	% inhibition of growth	95.9	95.6	99.5	99.4	99.2	96.1	98.9
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Black pepper	% inhibition of growth	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Cinnamon	% inhibition of growth	100	100	100	100	99.9	99.9	100
	Minimum of time (min)	60	30	30	30	60	60	60
Black caraway (Europe)/Black cumin (USA)	% inhibition of growth	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Borage (Starflower)	% inhibition of growth	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60
Black tea	% inhibition of growth	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Minimum of time (min)	60	60	60	60	60	60	60