The Role of Curcuma Species as Functional Food Ingredients

An important aspect of indigenous medicine is the ability of traditional societis to manipulate the environment for their own benefit, for example for their health care. In Indonesia, this indigenous medicine is called Jamu. Jamu mostly consists of a mixture of herbals of the genus Curcuma, Zingiberaceae. There are 19 species of curcuma grown in Indonesia. Eleven of them are popular in the jamu preparations. Ethnopharma-cological surveys have shown that 50% of these species are used for post partum protection, dismenorrhea, 30% are used for the treatment of stomache and as cosmetics, 20% for the treatment of various diseases such as fever, worms, asthma, etc. Chemical studies show that they contain curcuminoids, volatile oils, flavonoids, starch, and resinous substance. Pharmacological studies of extracts and isolated bioactive compounds have shown that they have a broad pharmacological activity such as antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, choleretic, antihepatotoxic, antitumor, antioxidant, and antihyperlipidemic activity.