The aims of this research were: evaluate the chemical composition and the cytotoxicity of the Cuminum cyminum (cumin), Anethum graveolens (dill), Pimpinella anisum (anise) and Foeniculum vulgare (fennel) essential oils, as well as their antifungal activity in vitro against ten Candida spp. isolates. The chemical composition of the oils was analyzed by means of gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The cytotoxicity assays were performed, using the cell proliferation reagent WST-1 in L929 mouse fibroblasts (20x103 well-1). The determinate the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), was performed through the Broth Microdilution technique (CLSI). The chemical main components were the cuminaldehyde (32.66%) for cumin, carvone (34.89%) for the dill, trans-anethole (94.01%) for the anise and anethole (79.62%) for the fennel. Anise and fennel did not were cytotoxic in all the tested concentrations, however the cumin oil was cytotoxic in the concentration of 20 mg.mL-1 and the dill in the concentrations of 20 and 8 mg.mL-1. All yeasts were susceptible against the evaluated essential oils. Cumin presented the lowest MIC against yeasts. We concluded that all the essential oils presented inhibitory action against Candida spp., and C . cyminum, P. anisum and F. vulgare were not cytotoxic in the same minimum inhibitory concentrations for the fungi.

The functional food value of herbal plants is greatly related to their contents of valuable phytochemicals. Regarding its impact on primary and secondary plant metabolism, CO2 enrichment could be a candidate strategy to modulate the levels of nutritionally and medicinally interesting phytochemicals in herbal plants. Herein, the concentrations of 81 metabolites and minerals were evaluated in shoot tissues of parsley and dill grown under two levels of CO2, ambient (378 ± 25 µmole CO2 mole-1 air, aCO2) and elevated (627 ± 24 µmole CO2 mole-1 air, eCO2). Regardless of the plant species, eCO2 improved the levels of soluble sugars, starch, organic acids, some EAAs, most of USFA, total phenolics, total flavonoids and vitamins A and E. However, notable variations in the metabolites responsiveness to eCO2 were recorded among the tested plant species. Moreover, considerable improvements in the total antioxidant capacity, antiprotozoal, antibacterial and anticancer activities were recorded for parsley and dill in response to eCO2.

Dill (Anethum graveolens) seeds contain essential oil rich in carvone and limonene, in addition to phenolics, such as trans-anethole, and flavonoids. Dill is a purported galactogogue.[1][2][3][4] No scientifically valid clinical trials support this use, and one small, old study found no galactogogue effect of a primary dill component, d-carvone.[5] Galactogogues should never replace evaluation and counseling on modifiable factors that affect milk production.[6] Two studies found small, but measurable amounts of d-carvone in the milk of mothers given the chemical experimentally. Dill is "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) as a food by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It is generally well tolerated, but occasional allergic skin reactions have been reported, especially after contact with fresh dill. In two studies, nursing mothers were given d-carvone. No adverse effects were noted in the mothers or infants. Dietary supplements do not require extensive pre-marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Manufacturers are responsible to ensure the safety, but do not need to prove the safety and effectiveness of dietary supplements before they are marketed. Dietary supplements may contain multiple ingredients, and differences are often found between labeled and actual ingredients or their amounts. A manufacturer may contract with an independent organization to verify the quality of a product or its ingredients, but that does not certify the safety or effectiveness of a product. Because of the above issues, clinical testing results on one product may not be applicable to other products. More detailed information about dietary supplements is available elsewhere on the LactMed Web site.

This study was carried out to assess the effects of a blend of herbal essential oils (namely Thymus vulgaris, Mentha piperita, Rosmarinus offisinalis and Anethum graveolens) and different dietary lipid sources on the performance, ileal bacterial enumeration, intestinal histological alterations and immune responses in laying hens. For this purpose, a total of 150 laying hens were randomly allocated to six experimental treatments with five replicates of five birds each. Dietary treatments consisted of three levels of a mixture of essential oils (0, 100 and 200 mg/kg) and two sources of lipid (soybean oil and fish oil containing different ratios of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids) fed to the animals during an 80-days feeding trial. Findings indicated that dietary administration of fish oil not only increased significantly the spleen relative weight (p < 0.01) and the antibody titre against Newcastle virus (p < 0.05) but also led to reductions in liver relative weight (p < 0.05) and feed conversion ratio (p < 0.05). Moreover, the mixture of herbal essential oils brought about declines in hepatic relative weight, heterophile to lymphocyte ratio (p < 0.05) and intestinal pathogen populations (p < 0.01). Mention must also be made of the improvements it made in spleen weight (p < 0.01), antibody titres against SRBC (p < 0.01) and Newcastle virus (p < 0.05), villus height to crypt depth ratio (p < 0.01), goblet cell numbers (p < 0.05), lamina propria lymphatic follicle diameters (p < 0.01) and feed conversion ratio (p = 0.06). It may be claimed that the enhancements observed in the performance of laying hens fed fish oil and 200 mg/kg of the blend of essential oils could have potentially been associated with improved intestinal health indices as well as cellular and humoral immune responses.

The goal of this study was to compare the effect of Anethum graveolens (dill) vaginal suppositories and 100 mg clotrimazole vaginal tablets on vulvovaginal Candidiasis. This study was a single centre, single-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial, in which 60 women with microbiology-confirmed vulvovaginal candidiasis were randomly assigned to dill and clotrimazole groups. At the end of the study, the estimated prevalence of leucorrhoea, burning, and itching was 23%, 23% and 20% in dill users, respectively. This figure was 20%, 10% and 16.7% for the clotrimazole group, respectively. The difference between the two groups was not significant. 13% of suppository patients, compared with 10% of clotrimazole-treatment patients, had a positive culture, which was not significant (p = .68). According to findings, 2% dill vaginal suppositories were as effective as clotrimazole vaginal tablets in reducing both clinical and microbiological symptoms of Candidiasis. Studies with larger sample sizes are required to confirm current findings. Impact statement What is already known on the subject? Based on results from in vivo and in vitro animal studies, dill (Anethum graveolens) has anti-candida activity. What do the results of this study add? It appears that 2% dill vaginal suppositories were as effective as 100 mg clotrimazole vaginal tablets in reducing both the clinical and microbiological symptoms. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and further research? Obstetricians and gynaecologists can offer dill as a useful alternative to chemical drugs, especially in women who are often interested in herbal medicine, or in women who are resistant or are not allowed to use antifungal drugs.

Indiscriminate use of industrial larvicides causes environment pollution and resistance against the larvicides in mosquitoes. Essential oils (EOs) have many biological activities such as larvicidal effects which have been proposed as new alternatives for industrial ones. Many components of EOs are volatile, thus, should be formulated to retain their activity. Components of Dill EO were identified by GC-MS analysis. Larvicidal activity (LA) of bulk Dill EO (non-formulated) was evaluated against Anopheles stephensi in line with WHO guideline for lab tests. For the first time, nanoemulsions of Dill EO were prepared. Various nanoemulsions having fixed amounts of Dill EO 1.2%, comparable with lethal concentration (LC) at 90% of bulk Dill EO, were prepared having tween 20 (5-30%) with/out ethanol (5-30%). LA of two selected nanoemulsions were then evaluated and compared with that of bulk Dill EO. Five ingredients of oil, with high amounts, were identified as p-Cymenealpha (20.81%), alpha-Phellandrene (20.75%), Carvone (10.97%), Dill ether (9.88%), and cis-Sabinol (3.61%). LC of Dill EO at 50 and 90% were found as 38.8 and 65 ppm, respectively, against 3rd and 4th instar larvae of An. stephensi (Beech-Lab strain). Particle size (PS) ranges of nanoemulsions were 10.7-1880.0 nm. LA of optimum nanoemulsion (PS: 10.7 nm) was significantly better than that of bulk Dill EO. The preparation showed stability against 200 times dilution during larvicidal tests and performed significantly better than the nanoemulsion which was not stable after dilution. To obtain improved efficiency against larvae using nanoemulsions of EOs, the nanoemulsion should be resistant against dilution. Such a stable and green nanoemulsion may be used as alternative to industrial larvicides.

Contamination of environment and food from the prevalent spores and mycotoxins of Aspergillus niger has led to several diseases in humans and other animals. The present study investigated the control activity of plant essential oils against three strains of A. niger. In the elaborate assays done through microdilution plate assay and agar disk diffusion assay in the lab condition and in vivo assay on the stored wheat grains, the essential oil of Thymus vulgaris depicted overall superior efficacy. In microdilution plate assay, the oil of Anethum graveolens showed best fungistatic activity, while best fungicidal activity was depicted by Syzygium aromaticum oil. The oil of T. vulgaris showed moderate control efficacy against A. niger strains with its antifungal activity resulting mainly due to killing of microorganism rather than growth inhibition. In agar disk diffusion assay, T. vulgaris oil with a zone of inhibition (ZOI) of 23.3-61.1% was the most effective fungicide. The in vivo assay to evaluate the protection efficacy of oils for stored wheat grains against A. niger (AN1) revealed T. vulgaris (90.5-100%) to be the best control agent, followed by the oil of S. aromaticum (61.9-100%). The GC-MS analysis of T. vulgaris oil indicated the presence of thymol (39.11%), γ-terpinene (19.73%), o-cymene (17.21%), and β-pinene (5.38%) as major oil components. Phytotoxic effects of the oils on wheat seeds showed no significant phytotoxic effect of oils in terms of seed germination or seedling growth. The results of the study demonstrated control potentiality of essential oils for the protection of stored wheat against A. niger with prospect for development of eco-friendly antifungal products.

Natural antimicrobials as well as essential oils (EOs) have gained interest to inhibit pathogenic microorganisms and to control food borne diseases.Campylobacterspp. are one of the most common causative agents of gastroenteritis. In this study, cardamom, cumin, and dill weed EOs were evaluated for their antibacterial activities againstCampylobacter jejuniandCampylobacter coliby using agar-well diffusion and broth microdilution methods,along with the mechanisms of antimicrobial action. Chemical compositions of EOs were also tested by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results showed that cardamom and dill weed EOs possess greater antimicrobial activity than cumin with larger inhibition zones and lower minimum inhibitory concentrations. The permeability of cell membrane and cell membrane integrity were evaluated by determining relative electric conductivity and release of cell constituents into supernatant at 260 nm, respectively. Moreover, effect of EOs on the cell membrane ofCampylobacterspp. was also investigated by measuring extracellular ATP concentration. Increase of relative electric conductivity, extracellular ATP concentration, and cell constituents' release after treatment with EOs demonstrated that tested EOs affected the membrane integrity ofCampylobacterspp. The results supported high efficiency of cardamom, cumin, and dill weed EOs to inhibitCampylobacterspp. by impairing the bacterial cell membrane.