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. 2021 Dec 18;10(12):3143.
doi: 10.3390/foods10123143.

Rosemary Extract and Essential Oil as Drink Ingredients: An Evaluation of Their Chemical Composition, Genotoxicity, Antimicrobial, Antiviral, and Antioxidant Properties

Spyridoula D Christopoulou  1 , Chrysa Androutsopoulou  2 , Panagiotis Hahalis  3 , Chrysoula Kotsalou  2 , Apostolos Vantarakis  2 , Fotini N Lamari  1
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Free PMC article

Rosemary Extract and Essential Oil as Drink Ingredients: An Evaluation of Their Chemical Composition, Genotoxicity, Antimicrobial, Antiviral, and Antioxidant Properties

Spyridoula D Christopoulou et al. Foods. .
Free PMC article

Abstract

Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary) is in high demand in the food and drink industries due to its distinct organoleptic properties. With the aim of evaluating the rosemary leaves as drink ingredients, both the essential oil and alcoholic (38%, v/v) extract were studied in terms of chemical composition, genotoxicity, antimicrobial, antiviral, and antioxidant properties. GC-MS analysis showed that the main volatile compounds in the essential oil were eucalyptol (40.1%), camphor (12.4%), and α-pinene (12.9%). LC-MS analysis revealed gallocatechin and rosmarinic acid as the main extract ingredients. Both the essential oil and the extract were not genotoxic (Ames test) against TA98 and TA100 at the dilutions of 5% and 90%, respectively; those dilutions were selected as the maximum possible ones in the drink industry. Their activity was investigated against Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus niger, and Adenovirus 35. Both were effective against Adenovirus and A. niger, even the essential oil at 5% (v/v). The extract at dilutions of 25-90% had more pronounced activity against tested bacteria than the essential oil at the dilutions of 5-100%; the essential oil at the dilution of 5% inhibited S. aureus growth. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging assay, the 2,2-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid decolorization assay, and the ferric reducing antioxidant power assay. Both exhibited good antioxidant activity, but rosemary essential oil was far more effective than the extract. Our results demonstrate that rosemary essential oil and extract are safe and have beneficial biological properties. Therefore, they could serve as health-promoting ingredients in the drink industry.

Keywords: acute toxicity; antimicrobial; antioxidant; antiviral; chemical characterization; essential oil; eucalyptol; extract; rosemary.

Conflict of interest statement

P.H. is an employee of Tentoura Castro-G.P. Hahalis Distillery. The company produced the raw materials under investigation (rosemary extract and essential oil) and provided information on the industrial production of bitter alcoholic beverages so as to determine the maximum concentrations of those in the experimental evaluation.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Percentage of each category of volatile compounds in rosemary essential oil.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Total ion chromatogram for LC–MS analysis in negative ionization mode of rosemary leaves extract. The whole chromatogram is shown in the upper panel and a zoomed-in section is presented in the lower panel. Peaks are numbered as in Table 2.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Antibacterial activity of rosemary essential oil against E. coli, Salmonella typhimurium, S. aureus in three different concentrations (5, 50 and 100%).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Antibacterial activity of rosemary extracts (90%, 50%, 25%) against E. coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and S. aureus.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Antifungal activity of rosemary essential oil (100%, 50%, 5%) against A. niger.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Antifungal activity of rosemary extract (90%, 50%, 25%) against A. niger.
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