Department of Natural Medicines, Daiichi University of Pharmacy, 22-1 Tamagawa-cho, Minami-ku, Fukuoka, 815-8511, Japan.
J Nat Med. 2020 Sep;74(4):710-721. doi: 10.1007/s11418-020-01423-8. Epub 2020 Jun 15.
Cinnamon, clove, and fennel are commonly used as spices and herbal medicines, and one of their medicinal uses is as aromatic stomachics. We investigated the effect on appetite in mice of inhaling volatile compounds contained in essential oils extracted from herbal medicines used as aromatic stomachics. The appetite-enhancing effects of cinnamon and fennel essential oils were similar to those of their main components trans-cinnamaldehyde and trans-anethole, respectively. The appetite-enhancing effects of clove essential oil were observed over a wide range of doses (4.5 × 10 to 4.5 × 10 mg/cage), even though the active compounds showed effects within a narrow range of doses (eugenol: 4.5 × 10 to 2.5 × 10 mg/cage; eugenol acetate: 1.1 × 10 to 4.5 × 10 mg/cage). The increase in appetite at doses that differed by tenfold in mice administered clove oil was due to synergistic effects between eugenol and eugenol acetate in clove oil. Thus, loss of appetite could be treated more effectively using essential oil containing both eugenol and eugenol acetate compared with the active compounds administered separately. Administering essential oils, such as cinnamon and clove, could improve loss of appetite without strict dosage adjustment.
肉桂、丁香和茴香通常被用作香料和草药，它们的药用用途之一是芳香开胃药。我们研究了吸入作为芳香开胃药使用的草药提取的精油中所含挥发性化合物对小鼠食欲的影响。肉桂和茴香精油的开胃效果分别类似于它们的主要成分反式肉桂醛和反式茴香脑。丁香精油在很宽的剂量范围内（4.5×10 到 4.5×10 mg/笼）都能增强食欲，尽管活性化合物在很窄的剂量范围内（丁香酚：4.5×10 到 2.5×10 mg/笼；乙酸丁香酚：1.1×10 到 4.5×10 mg/笼）表现出效果。在给小鼠施用丁香油的剂量相差十倍的情况下，食欲增加是由于丁香油中的丁香酚和乙酸丁香酚之间的协同作用。因此，与单独使用活性化合物相比，使用同时含有丁香酚和乙酸丁香酚的精油治疗食欲不振可能会更有效。施用肉桂和丁香等精油可以改善食欲不振，而无需严格调整剂量。
