Health benefits of Savory herb
Savory leaves and tender shoots contain incredibly high-quality chemical compounds that are known to have been anti-oxidant, disease preventing and health promoting properties. In addition, dietary fiber in this herb helps reduce LDL or bad cholesterol while increasing HDL or good cholesterol levels.
Savory leaves contain many essential volatile-oil phenols such as thymol and carvacrol, as well as linalool, camphene, caryophyllene, terpineol, myrcene, and other terpenoids.
Thymol, one of the important essential oils, has scientifically been found to have antiseptic, anti-fungal characteristics.
In addition, another phenolic compound, carvacrol in savory inhibits the growth of several bacteria strains like E. coli, and Bacillus cereus. Carvacrol, therefore, has been used as healthy food additive for its anti-bacterial properties, besides it gives pleasant tangy taste and marjoram like a smell to the food.
Savory herb is an excellent source of minerals and vitamins that are essential for optimum health. Its leaves and tender shoots are one of the richest sources of potasium, iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc and selenium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase. Iron is required for red blood cell formation.
The herb is also a rich source of many important vitamins such as B-complex group vitamins, vitamin-A, vitamin-C, niacin, thiamin and pyridoxine.
Dry savory provides 1.810 mg of vitamin B-6 or pyridoxine; furnishing about 130% of RDA. Pyridoxine keeps up GABA (soothing neurotransmitter) levels in the brain, which has stress buster function.
Vitamin C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals.
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin and antioxidant that are required maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin and is also essential for good eye-sight. Consumption of natural fruits rich in flavonoids like vitamin A, carotenes helps protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.
Dry savory herb has amazingly high levels of vitamins and minerals. Just 100 g of ground dry herb provides (% of Recommended daily allowance):-
120% of dietary fiber,
25% of niacin,
130% of vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine),
83% of vitamin C,
177% of vitamin A,
474% of iron,
210% of calcium,
94% of magnesium, and
265% of manganese
but no cholesterol.
