ABSTRACT
Dietary spices influence various systems in the body such as gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, reproductive and nervous systems resulting in diverse metabolic and physiologic actions. As inheritors of a long tradition of the use of spices in diet as well as in indigenous medicines we know that these are treatments often honed over centuries with well-established reputations for efficacy. A rigorous review of these manifold beneficial effects may provide a fair basis for prescription in many clinical conditions where confirmed modern drug treatments do not exist or as adjunct therapy to reduce the dosage or the risk of side effects. This essay attempts to adjudicate the traditional use of dietary spices based on factual research evidence for their multivalent actions as health promoting dietary additives as well as putative therapeutic agents.