**1. Introduction**

Spices and herbs are a vital part of human nutrition around the world, especially in India, China, and southeastern Asian countries [1]. Spices and herbs are food adjuncts, traditionally used as flavoring, seasoning, coloring, and as a food preservative agent [1,2]. Moreover, spices and herbs are an exceptionally rich source of nutritionally important phenolic compounds [3]. These phenolic compounds are primarily responsible for the potent antioxidative, digestive stimulative, hypolipidemic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and anticancer properties of spices and herbs [4–6].

In general, the terms herbs and spices have more than one meaning. However, the most widely used are those that consider herbs to be derived from the green parts of a plant, such as a stem and leaves used in small amounts to impart flavor, whereas spices are obtained from seeds, buds, fruits, roots, or even the bark of the plants [2].

Fatty acids are the primary nutritional components found in edible seed oils [7]. Seed oils provide essential polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid (*ω*−6 or *n*−6), and α-linolenic acid (*n*−3) to humans and other higher animals. In the human body, linoleic acid give rise to *n*−6 very long-chain (VLC)-PUFA arachidonic acid, and α-linolenic acid converts to *n*−3 VLC-PUFA eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA,

**Citation:** Saini, R.K.; Assefa, A.D.; Keum, Y.-S. Spices in the Apiaceae Family Represent the Healthiest Fatty Acid Profile: A Systematic Comparison of 34 Widely Used Spices and Herbs. *Foods* **2021**, *10*, 854. https://doi.org/10.3390/ foods10040854

Academic Editors: Andreas Eisenreich and Bernd Schaefer

Received: 8 March 2021 Accepted: 12 April 2021 Published: 14 April 2021

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**Copyright:** © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

**<sup>\*</sup>** Correspondence: rational@konkuk.ac.kr

*n*−3). These *n*−6 and *n*−3 VLC-PUFAs plays key distinct roles in regulating body homeostasis. In general, *n*−6 VLC-PUFAs gives rise to proinflammatory mediators (eicosanoids) whereas *n*−3 VLC-PUFAs give rise to anti-inflammatory mediators. Thus, a higher amount of *n*−3 VLC-PUFAs in the body may protect from chronic diseases, including cancer, inflammatory, or cardiovascular diseases (CVD) [8]. Moreover, a diet with a high proportion of *n*−6 PUFAs (high ratio of *n*−6/*n*−3 PUFAs) cannot be considered beneficial to health, as *n*−3 PUFAs to *n*−3 VLC-PUFAs conversion occurs at a very low rate (e.g., 8% for EPA and less than 1% for DHA), and conversion is largely dependent upon the ratio of ingested *n*−6 (linoleic acid) and *n*−3 (α-linolenic) PUFAs [9]. In human hepatoma cells, this conversion is highest when these *n*−6 and *n*−3 acids are provided at a 1:1 ratio. Thus, the consumption of an appropriate amount of fats with a 1:1 *n*−6/*n*−3 PUFAs ratio, which was probably followed by our ancestors [10], may be considered beneficial.

Similar to the consumption of fats with a balanced ratio of *n*−6/*n*−3 PUFAs, growing evidence suggests that replacing saturated fatty acids (SFAs) with monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) from plant sources may decrease the risk of CVD [11]. And with the health benefits associated with consumption of *n*−3 PUFAs and MUFAs, consumer interest is shifting towards foods with a low proportion of SFAs, a high proportion of MUFAs, and balanced *n*−6/*n*−3 PUFAs. Given this, it is necessary to characterize all the major and minor components of the diet to acquire a better estimate of the fatty acid composition of our food.

Spices and herbs are not a significant source of fatty acids, as they form a small part of the diet. However, a detailed and comparative study of the fatty acid composition of various spices and herbs may be useful to identify those with health-beneficial fatty acids. Considering these facts, this study aims to investigate the fatty acid composition of commercially available major spices and herbs utilizing gas chromatography-flame ionization detection and GC-mass spectrometry analysis. We used fatty acid composition data to study spices and herbs to determine their fat quality indices. We anticipate the results contained herein will contribute significantly to the identification of spices with a healthy fatty acid profile.
