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Scent leaf, botanically known as Ocimum gratissimum is a tropical plant species that have a distinctive smell and contain vital bioactive substances such as antibacterial, antifungal, antiseptic, larvicidal, and antipyretic.
Belonging to the family of Labiatae, scent leaf or clove basil is widely used in Nigeria for the preparation of diverse food delicacies due to its culinary and immeasurable health benefits.
This highly nutritional herb is known for its prominent role in the traditional treatment and prevention of diseases and infections. Scent leaf extracts are also commonly used as traditional medicine in treating illnesses like fever, cough, body pain and so on.
Aside from its usefulness and benefits, Scent leaf is high in calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, carbon and vitamin A. It also supplies beneficial plant compounds that have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and other health properties.
These compounds give Scent leaf its “essence” or distinct aroma and flavour. That’s why oils derived from Scent leaf and other plants are called essential oils.
Scent leaf in Yoruba: Efirin
Scent leaf in Igbo: Nshianwu
Scent leaf in Hausa: Daidoya
Scent leaf in Effik: Ntong
Scent leaf in Edo: Aramogbo
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English: clover basil; East Indian basil; shrubby basil; tree basil
Spanish: albahaca Africana; albahaca cimarrona; albahaca de limón
French: basilic sauvage; menthe gabonaise
Chinese: wu mao ding xiang luo le
Portuguese: alfavaca-de-caboclo; alfavacão
Brazil: alfavaca brava
Indonesia: kemangi hutan; ruku-ruku rimba; selaseh mekah
Jamaica: African tea bush
The highly nutritional leaf contains various minerals and nutrients which confer numerous health benefits on the plant. Below are the potential health benefits of scent leaf to overall human health.
Scent leaf can helps in the maintenance of optimum penile health and sperm vitality because it contains a good source of arginine, an amino acid and compounds such as epigenin fenchone and eugenol which can help facilitate erection.
The anetol and boron in the leaf are capable of inducing hormone estrogen in women while the same eugenol effective in men helps to kill the fungus that has been implicated in vaginal discharge.
It also contains a substance called tryptophan that can delay menopause, while Tannin and zinc reduce the secretion of vaginal fluid and stigmasterol substances in the leaf may stimulate egg maturation.
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One of the unprecedented health benefits of scent leaf is the ability to lower blood sugar levels in the body and prevent the damage of pancreatic islets cells that produce insulin which invariably reduce cholesterol and prevent cancer from building up in the body.
A research study conducted on mice showed that the content of ethanol in scent leaf is efficacious in lowering blood sugar levels. While a randomized study in 1996 revealed that a decrease in blood sugar levels after eating are significant to the non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NID-DM) patients.
Another finding also shows that scent leaf can protect body tissue from damage caused by radiation.
Scent leaf is an aromatic herb that has been proven to aids digestion, relieve bloating, helps bowel evacuation and weight management.
Drinking scent leaf extract as juice can have a calming effect on the stomach and help treat digestive problems such as diarrhoea, mules, lactose and irritable bowel syndrome.
Drinking scent leaf juice is also known to curing heartburn, coughing, menstrual pain, fever, malaria, respiratory problems, constipation, appetite enhancer, nausea, postpartum treatments, cleansers and boosters heart.
Another immeasurable health benefit of scent leaf is the ability to maintain and promotes good eyesight due to its richness in vitamin A.
Vitamin A which has been scientifically proven to work with various types of eye infections, conjunctivitis, eye-soothing stress, prevention of night blindness and other vision problems is a known cure for eye defect through scent leaf
The retina of the eyes needed Vitamin A which combines with protein opsin to form rhodopsin, the light-absorbing molecule which is ultimately necessary for both scotopic vision (low-light) and colour vision.
The deficiency of vitamin A can be terrible for the eyes leading to xerophthalmia (a medical condition in which the eye fails to produce tears) and night blindness both of which are preventable when adequate amounts of scent leaves are consumed.
The calcium and magnesium contained in scent leaf help to reduce bad cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) and increase blood circulation within the body. As well, every 100 grams of fresh scent leaf have 33 grams of protein that helps improves heart health.
Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterols increase the risk of Coronary Artery Disease in adults and so the intake of scent leaves can reduce this ever-present risk.
Most especially in adult, scent leaf helps to prevent disease, heart problems and stabilize blood in the circulation. Heart and artery problems resulting from the clogging of arteries are nearly preventable if adequate amounts of scent leaves are consumed.
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Scent leaf can also be used as a powerful mosquito repellent when dry up under the sun and burn to ashes since it contains compounds like camphor, cineole and limonene which are larvicidal and harmful to mosquitoes existence or insects.
Besides, scent leaf can be planted in residential quarters or in a pot as a flower to serve as a repellent for houseflies, mosquitoes, and other insects, thereby promoting good health and reducing malaria and enteric diseases caused by houseflies. This is because the aroma of scent leaf contains some fragrant that does not like mosquitoes or flies around.
There are unimaginable anti-inflammatory properties in scent leaf that can help to avoid bad effects from inflammation and treat arthritis.
The scent leaf also contains calcium that can help increase bone density and prevent diseases of the bone such as osteoporosis akin to drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen but are kinder to the inner linings of the stomach.
The decoction made from scent leaf is useful for healing menstrual pain, stomach ache, earache, and fever. However, inflammation can cause our bodies to become venerable to all sorts of sickness and diseases.
One of the indigenous method used in treating diarrhoea is scent leaf extract and it has been extensively demonstrated to be effective against some pathogenic bacteria known to cause this ailment including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Shigella sp. and Salmonella sp.
It is thus conceivable that scent leaf can be brewed as a tea to treat such cases caused by the above organisms. Also, the use of scent leaf to control diarrhoea can be attributed to the relaxant action of the essential oil, which is likely to be due to a direct effect on the smooth muscle of the ileum rather than an indirect action on neurotransmitter release.
According to the study by Ethnopharmacol in 1999 titled Antidiarrhoeal effects of scent leaf extract in experimental animals shows that the aqueous extract of the leaf might elicit an antidiarrhoeal effect by inhibiting intestinal motility, partly via muscarinic receptor inhibition.
As an anti-inflammatory herb, scent leaf has the same effect as aspirin and ibuprofen. This amazing herb also possesses elements to prevent injury in the body and does not irritate the stomach when consumed.
Due to its antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, scent leaf oil extract is also used as a potent food preservative to keep away bacteria and fungi that may otherwise cause food spoilage. So looking for a natural way and possible healthier alternative to preserve your food, scent leaf ethanol extract is the right choice.
The stem of the scent leaf when used as chewing stick kills bacteria in the mouth, fight off bad breath and prevent tooth decay. In like mind, the extract of scent leaf can also be taken as a tonic or used as a gargle to treat sore throat.
Most often time, those residing in rural area use scent leaf stem as a chewing stick to wash their mouth due to its effectiveness and health properties.
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The respiratory disorder is yet another health benefit of scent leaf. Aqueous extracts of scent leaves have demonstrated effects on markers of inflammation, including interleukins, protein kinases, and leukocytes/eosinophils in models of respiratory allergy (in vitro experiments evaluating effects on airway epithelial cells, in vivo studies in rodents) and thus can be used in managing respiratory problems.
To use scent leaf for a respiratory disorder, you will need to rub the leaf between the palms and sniffed it as a treatment for blocked nostrils.
Consuming scent leaf can indirectly help you with weight loss because scent leaf is very low in calories and full of nutrients.
Scent leaf help protects against aspirin’s damage to your gut, particularly preventing ulcers.
There are different ways one can use scent leaf as food or traditional medicinal herb to cure know diseases or infections.
Scent leaf can be used fresh or dried in making foods like black soup, pepper soup and egusi soup.
It can also be brewed as tea or juiced to be used as medicinal herbs to help treat various illnesses.
To achieve this, you will need to wash the leaves thoroughly with clean water, put them in a pot and cook on fire with water as a way of getting the tea out from the leaves for some minutes. When it is done, ut down the pot from the fire and drink it while it is still warm.
Alternatively, scent leaf can be incorporated into mosquito coils, incense, creams or ointments, to drive away insects and reptiles.
You can as well squeeze the leaves with both hands using a bowl without water or a blender to blend it with small water to extract the natural juice from the leave with the help of a sieve and add a pinch of salt.
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You can preserve scent leaf in a variety of ways like:
One of the fastest means to preserve scent leaf is to dry the leaves and store them in a cool and dry place for future use.
Place the scent leaves in a plastic bag and store them in a fridge for not more than two weeks
Blend the scent leaves to form purée and store in the fridge or freezer
You can also put the extracted scent leaf in a container and store it in a fridge, but ensure you made use of it within three days.
There is a lot of nutrition that can be derived from the consumption of scent leaf either as food or medicinal herbs.
For instance, 100g of fresh scent leave contains:
Calories: 22
Protein: 3.2g
Fat: 0.6g
Carbs: 2.7g
Potassium: 295 mg
Sodium: 4mg
Also, the leaf contains some magnesium, cinnamic acid, anetol, boron compounds, eugenol compound, stigmasterol, tannin, zinc, tryptophan, iron and Vitamins A, B-6 and C
Despite the tremendous health benefits of scent leaf, the aromatic herb still has some side effects that one needed to watch out for and they include:
First and foremost, when scent leaf is consumed as food or vegetable, it hardly has any negative side effect. But as tea, juice, medicinal herbs and so on can cause the following side effects:
Bleeding disorders
Scent leaf oils and extracts may slow down blood clotting and increase bleeding. This, however, can lead to excessive bleeding in patients undergoing surgery or who have a bleeding disorder.
Lead To Miscarriage
Essential oils of Scent leaves can be used for aromatherapy massage, however, pregnant women are forbidden from using it because it feared could cause a miscarriage.
Low blood pressure
Scent leaf extracts may lower blood pressure which can lead to excessive low blood pressure in people with blood pressure.
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