Augusti K T
Department of Biochemistry, University of Kerala, India.
Indian J Exp Biol. 1996 Jul;34(7):634-40.
Onion and garlic contain many sulfur containing active principles mainly in the form of cysteine derivatives, viz. S-alkyl cysteine sulfoxides which decompose into a variety of thiosulfinates and polysulfides by the action of an enzyme allinase on extraction. Decomposed products are volatile and present in the oils of onion and garlic. They possess antidiabetic, antibiotic, hypocholesterolaemic, fibrinolytic and various other biological actions. In addition to free sulfoxides in alliums, there are nonvolatile sulfur-containing peptides and proteins which possess various activities and thus make these vegetables as an important source of therapeutic agents. As allyl and related sulfoxides are inhibiting thiol group enzymes, alliums are to be used only in limited quantities.
洋葱和大蒜含有许多含硫活性成分，主要以半胱氨酸衍生物的形式存在，即S-烷基半胱氨酸亚砜，在提取时通过蒜氨酸酶的作用分解为多种硫代亚磺酸盐和多硫化物。分解产物具有挥发性，存在于洋葱和大蒜的油中。它们具有抗糖尿病、抗菌、降胆固醇、纤维蛋白溶解和各种其他生物活性。除了葱属植物中的游离亚砜外，还有非挥发性含硫肽和蛋白质，它们具有各种活性，因此使这些蔬菜成为治疗剂的重要来源。由于烯丙基及相关亚砜会抑制巯基酶，葱属植物只能少量使用。
