Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activities of Nasturtium officinale Essential Oil on Food Borne Bacteria

Abstract

Introduction: The use of synthetic preservatives has been increasing in the food industry, and this leads to an increased incidence of gastrointestinal diseases and cancers in humans in the long run. In this study, the antibacterial activity of N. officinale essential oil was evaluated on Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella enteric by microdilution method. Also, the antioxidant activity of this essential oil was evaluated by inactivating free radicals produced by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). Finally, the chemical compounds of the N. officinale essential oil were evaluated by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Results: The results showed that S. enteric and E. coli isolates had the most resistance and B. cereus isolates had the most susceptibility to N. officinale essential oil. The evaluation of antioxidant properties showed that in the same concentrations, the antioxidant effect of N. officinale was less than BHT. The obtained results from GC/MS showed that Phytol (30.20%) was the highest proportion and Megastigmatrienone 2 (0.18%) was the lowest proportion of essential oil. Conclusion: In general, the results of this study showed that N. officinale essential oil has an appropriate antibacterial activity against gram positive bacteria and can be used as a new antibacterial and antioxidant compound in the food industry.