By Tamara Cohen
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Last updated at 7:46 AM on 24th August 2011
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| Coriander: The herb extract is resistant to a range of toxic bacteria |
The herb extract is resistant to a range of toxic bacteria which cause infections that are resistant to drugs, a study has found.
Portuguese scientists tested samples of the oil – taken from the seeds of a coriander plant – against 12 lethal bacteria.
All showed reduced growth and most were killed by a solution containing less than 1.6 per cent of the oil.
The team from the University of Beira Interior found the oil attacks and kills the outer membrane of bacteria cells, including salmonella, E.coli and MRSA.
Dr Fernanda Domingues, who co-authored the study, said coriander oil could help the millions who suffer from food-borne illnesses every year.
‘It could become a natural alternative to common antibiotics,’ she said.
‘We envisage the use of coriander in lotions, mouth rinses and even pills, to fight multidrug-resistant bacterial infections that otherwise could not be treated.
‘This would significantly improve people’s quality of life.’
In the UK every year, around one million people suffer a food poisoning, leading to 20,000 needing hospital care and around 500 deaths, according to the Food Standards Agency.
There were 1,900 cases of MRSA in this country in 2009-2010 and nearly 500 deaths.
Dr Domingues explained how the oil works by saying: ‘It disrupts the barrier between the [membrane of bacteria] cell and its environment and inhibits essential processes including respiration, which ultimately leads to the death of the bacterial cell.’
But the authors say more research is needed into how it would be developed into a drug.
Coriander is widely used in Mediterranean and Asian cuisine.
It has been known as a medicinal plant since ancient times but the mechanism by which it works was not previously understood, says the study, published today in the Journal of Medical Microbiology.
Hugh Pennington, former emeritus professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University said: ‘We have known about the antibacterial properties for a long, long time, but the difficulty in medicine is getting them to the right place to treat salmonella, or MRSA in your hip or whatever.
'Unless it can do that, the discovery is not fantastically important.’
