Putting it in meals reduces triglyceride levels in the blood by 30%.

Spices and herbs are rich in antioxidants, which may help reduce levels of triglycerides and other fats in the blood, according to a study by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania.

Triglyceride levels usually rise after eating high-fat diets, leading to an increased risk of heart disease. The researchers said that if spices containing higher amounts of antioxidants were mixed with a meal, triglyceride levels would decrease by 30 percent compared to the same meal without those spices.

* Healthy spices

* Meals mixed with spices and herbs included: garlic powder, rosemary, oregano, cinnamon, cloves, red pepper, turmeric, ginger, and black pepper.

Sheila West, a professor of behavioral health and nutritional sciences, and Anne Schooley-Ray, a researcher in nutritional sciences at the university, reviewed various studies that examined the effect of spices and herbs on risk factors for heart disease, which were presented during a scientific conference of the Cacormick Institute in May of this year. They published the results of their study in Nutrition Today, a magazine specializing in nutrition.

The researchers said, “The effects of spices and herbs on the metabolism process and their efficiency and safety compared to medical drugs represent a very exciting field for future research regarding cardiovascular health.”

The two researchers examined three types of studies on “a mixture of spices,” cinnamon, and garlic. They said, “We live in a world where people eat too many calories every day, so adding antioxidant spices may be the way to reduce the number of calories without affecting our taste.”

The two researchers examined studies on the effect of cinnamon on people with diabetes and those without diabetes. Cinnamon has been shown to help diabetics significantly reduce their levels of cholesterol and other fats. However, cinnamon does not seem to help people who do not have diabetes.

The studies reviewed on garlic did not reach conclusive results because the doses used varied greatly. However, the researchers noted that eating garlic led to a reduction in cholesterol by 8 percent, which corresponds to a reduction in the risk of heart disease of up to 38 percent in adults aged 50 years.

* Useful meals

* The researchers prepared meals on two separate days for six men between the ages of 30 and 65, all of whom were healthy, but they were obese. The meals, which were identical, contained chicken, bread, and biscuits, except that they added two tablespoons of a mixture of spices. The two researchers followed the study participants for a period of 3 hours after each meal, and extracted blood samples every half hour. It appeared that antioxidants in the blood increased after the men ate the meal, by 13 percent more compared to eating meals without the spice mixture.