Anethum graveolens (L.) Benth. & Hook (Apiaceae/Umbelliferae)

Abstract

This annual herb is a native of southwest Asia and southeast Europe, and is also indigenous to Mediterranean region, southern Russia and central Asia. Ibn Jazlah used it for brain diseases, nose, ear and throat illnesses. It is also used to induce vomiting in cases of poisoning, after mixing it with oil and boiling in water and drunk warm. Seed (fruits) oil is used for abdominal colic, and externally for earache, arthritis, neuronal pain, and paralysis. In Ayurveda, dried ripe fruits are used in jwara, netraroga, vrana, śūla, and atisãra. In Iran, aerial parts are used as hypolipidemic agent. Volatile components of dill seeds (fruits) and herb include carvone, the predominant odorant of dill seeds, a-phellandrene, limonene, dill ether, myristicin, coumarins, flavonoids, phenolic acids and steroids. Ten flavonol glycosides were isolated from leaves; two major flavonoids being quercetin 3-O-b-D-glucuronide and isorhamnetin 3-O-b-D-glucuronide. Aqueous leaf extract exhibits potential antiradical and antioxidant activity, and significantly reduces fasting blood glucose of diabetic rats, and a commercial dill tablet protected rats against CCl 4-hepatotoxicity. Various extracts and the commercial dill tablet significantly decreased TC, LDL-C, VLDL, and TGs, increased HDL, and significantly inhibited HMG CoA-reductase in hypercholesterolemic animals. However, effect of dill tablets in hypercholesterolemic patients has been inconsistent. Three monoterpenes, anethofuran, carvone, and limonene exhibited cancer chemoprevention by inducing detoxifying enzyme GST, in several mouse target tissues.