Chapter 48

Rosemary

Botanical Name: Rosmarinus officinalis L.

Synonyms: Rosmarinus coronarium; compass plant.
Family: Lamiaceae (Labiatae).
Common Names: French: rosmarin; German: Rosmarein; Italian: rosmarino;
Spanish: romero.

Introduction

History

The name “Rosemary” is derived from the Latin word “rosmarinus”, meaning “sea
dew”. The ancient Greeks called it “antos”, meaning “the flower of excellence” or
“libanotis” for its smell of incense. It has been used since 500 BC. It was used to
ward off evil spirits and nightmares by placing sprigs under the pillow, and the
aroma could keep old age at bay. During the middle ages, rosemary leaves and twigs
were burned to scare away evil spirits and disinfect the surroundings. In Hungary,
ornaments made of rosemary were used as a symbol of love, intimacy, and fidelity
for lovers. The Spaniards revere it as one of the bushes that provided shelter to
Virgin Mary on her way to Egypt. Legend has it that Virgin Mary washed her sky-
blue cloak and spread it over a rosemary bush to dry; the flowers henceforth became
blue. The Sicilians believe that young fairies, taking the form of snakes, lie amongst
the branches. It was also used in bridal wreaths with other herbs and flowers. It was
thought that if rosemary thrived in one’s house, the woman rules the house. In
ancient Greece, rosemary was recognized for its alleged ability to strengthen the
brain and memory. Greek students would braid rosemary into their hair to help them
with their exams. Also known as the herb of remembrance, it was placed on the
graves of English heroes. Dioscorides claimed that rosemary boiled in water and

D.J. Charles, Antioxidant Properties of Spices, Herbs and Other Sources, 495
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-4310-0_48, © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
496 48 Rosemary

drunk before exercise would cure anyone with yellow jaundice. Tragus wrote of
rosemary as a very desirable spice for Germans. Rosemary placed in closets among
clothes protected them from moths and other vermin. Rosemary was a perfume in
baths of ladies in France, Greece, and Turkey.

Producing Regions

Rosemary is native to the Mediterranean regions. It is now cultivated worldwide in

Algeria, Spain, France, Portugal, Russia, China, Yugoslavia, Tunisia, Morocco,
Italy, and USA. Major essential oil producing are Spain, Tunisia, Morocco, and
France.

Botanical Description

Rosemary is a dense, aromatic, and evergreen perennial small shrub up to 2-m

(6.6 ft) high. It has branched, sticky, and narrow leaves that are bright green above,
with rolled-in margins and densely hairy below. The branches are rigid and the stem
is square, woody, and brown. The flowers are small, pale purple or bluish, and
appear in cymose inflorescence.

Parts Used

The parts used include fresh or dried leaves (grayish green), whole, chopped,
crushed or ground, and essential oil. Essential oil is obtained by steam distillation of
the fresh flowering tops. The oil is clear, colorless to pale yellow mobile liquid.
Yield is 0.5–1.2%. Two oils are sold commercially—Rosemary (Spain) and
Rosemary (Tunisia and Morocco). They differ in oil composition.

Flavor and Aroma

Rosemary has sweet and fresh, fragrant, slightly eucalyptus-like aroma and is
slightly camphoraceous. Rosemary has a characteristic cooling, pine-woody aroma
with camphoraceous, minty, balsamic undertones, and a fresh, bittersweet flavor.
The taste is somewhat peppery, spicy, warming, and herbaceous, with bitter and
camphoraceous aftertaste.
Preparation and Consumption 497

Table 48.1 Nutrient composition and ORAC values of rosemary dried

Nutrient Units Value per 100 g
Water g 9.31
Energy kcal 331
Protein g 4.88
Total lipid (fat) g 15.22
Carbohydrate, by difference g 64.06
Fiber, total dietary g 42.6
Calcium, Ca mg 1,280
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid mg 61.2
Vitamin B-6 mg 1.740
Vitamin B-12 mcg 0.00
Vitamin A, RAE mcg_RAE 156
Vitamin A, IU IU 3,128
Vitamin D IU 0
Fatty acids, total saturated g 7.371
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated g 3.014
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated g 2.339
H-ORAC mmol TE/100 g 112,200
L-ORAC mmol TE/100 g 53,080
Total-ORAC mmol TE/100 g 165,280
TP mg GAE/100 g 4,980
Source: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 24
(2011)

Active Constituents

The active constituents include essential oil up to 2.5%. Composition of different oils
is as follows: Rosemary (Spain): 1,8-cineole (15–25%), camphor (13–18.5%),
a-pinene (18–26%), camphene (8–12%), b-pinene, myrcene, limonene, bornyl
acetate, borneol, and verbenone. Rosemary (Tunisia, Morocco): 1,8-cineole (38–55%),
camphor (5–15%), a-pinene (9–14%), camphene (2.5–6%), b-pinene (4–9%), bornyl
acetate, borneol, verbenone, linalool. Also present in leaves are phenolic acids
(rosmarinic acid,), bitter diterpenes (carnosol, carnosic acid, rosmanol), triterpenes
(oleanic and ursolic acid), triterpene alcohols (a-amyrin, b-amyrin, betulin), as well
as several flavonoids and their glycosides (diosmetin, luteolin, genkwanin). The nutri-
tional constituents and ORAC values of dried rosemary are given in Table 48.1.

Preparation and Consumption

It is a popular culinary flavoring for meat and meat products, baked foods, and
Mediterranean recipes. Fresh or dried leaves can be used for special accent with
cream soups made of leafy greens, poultry, stews, and sauces. Rosemary extract has
498 48 Rosemary

antioxidant properties in food products. It is in liqueurs like Benedictine. Rosemary

leaves and flowering tops are used in lamb roast, mutton preparations, fish dishes,
marinades, bouquet garni, with baked fish, rice, salads, occasionally with egg prep-
arations, dumplings, apples, summer wine cups, and fruit cordials, and in vinegar
and oil. Dried leaves and extractives are used to season fried chicken, salad crou-
tons, baked products, confections, and nonalcoholic beverages and in perfumes
and soaps.

Medicinal Uses and Functional Properties

Rosemary is a carminative and stomachic. It is used to treat stomach cramps and

flatulence, and to stimulate appetite and the secretion of gastric juices. It is useful
against headache and nervous complaints. It provides relief from muscle aches and
joint pains. It is used for treating depression, migraine, and disorders of the liver and
digestion. Ointment made from leaves is useful against neuralgia, rheumatism,
eczema, and minor wounds. They are also used as hair rinses and mouthwashes.
Literature evidence from animal and cell culture studies has demonstrated the
anticancer potential of rosemary extract, carnosol, carnosic acid, ursolic acid, and
rosmarinic acid. The rosemary extract, phenolics and essential oil, stimulates blood
circulation and has antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antimicrobial, antiparasitic,
antiproliferative, spasmolytic, anti-inflammatory, and mild analgesic activity
(Baratta et al. 1998; Hori 1998; Pintore et al. 2002; Oluwatuyi et al. 2004: Vitaglione
et al. 2004; Amin and Hamza 2005; Moreno et al. 2006; Sharabani et al. 2006; Del
Baño et al. 2006; Rau et al. 2006; Tsai et al. 2007, 2011b; Kennedy and Scholey;
2006; Costa et al. 2007; Yesil-Celiktas et al. 2010 ; Yi and Wetzstein 2010;
Ait-Ouazzou et al. 2011; Jiang et al. 2011; Martinez-Velazquez et al. 2011; Toroglu
2011; Ventura-Martinez et al. 2011). Rosemary extract was found to have potent
antiglycative bioactivity (Hsieh et al. 2007). Luteolin, a flavonoid found in rose-
mary, has been reported to induce apoptosis, inhibit angiogenesis, prevent carcino-
genesis in animal models, reduce tumor growth in vivo, and sensitize tumor cells to
the cytotoxic effects of some anticancer drugs, suggesting its cancer chemopreven-
tive and chemotherapeutic potential (Lopez-Lazaro 2009). Carnosic acid, a major
phenolic from rosemary, was shown to significantly inhibit collagen-, arachidonic
acid-, U46619,- and thrombin-induced washed rabbit platelet aggregation in a con-
centration-dependent manner, suggesting its antiplatelet activity to be mediated by
inhibition of cytosolic calcium mobilization (Lee et al. 2007). The ethanolic extract
of rosemary was found to have differential anti-proliferative effects on human leu-
kemia and breast carcinoma cells (Cheung and Tai 2007). Carnosic acid (CA) was
found to decrease the viability of human promyelocytic leukemia cell line, HL-60,
and induced G(1) arrest and apoptosis (Wang et al. 2008). Dieldrin-induced down-
regulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor production was found to be
significantly attenuated by CA (Park et al. 2008). The essential oil of rosemary had
good antibacterial activity on E. coli, Salmonella typhi, S. enteritidis, and Shigella
Antioxidant Properties 499

sonei, and significant antifungal activity on six fungi (Bozin et al. 2007). It was
found to have antinociceptive effect in the PIFIR model (Martínez et al. 2009).
Rosemary extracts prevented protein glycation and their total phenolics were highly
correlated with FRAP values, and this suggests a strong antidiabetic potential for
rosemary bioactive compounds (Dearlove et al. 2008). Rosmanol, a polyphenol
from rosemary, downregulates inflammatory iNOS and COX-2 gene expression by
inhibiting the activation of NF-kappaB and STAT3 by interfering with the activa-
tion of PI3K/Akt and MAPK signaling (Lai et al. 2009). Rosemary is one of the top
ten botanical in antiaging creams (Cronin and Draelos 2010). Carnosol and carnosic
acid were found to have strong antimicrobial activity against a variety of microor-
ganisms responsible for initiating dental caries (Bernardes et al. 2010). Carnosic
acid and rosmarinic acid from rosemary exhibited neurotrophic effects in PC12
cells through cell differentiation induction and cholinergic activities enhancement
(El Omri et al. 2010).
Rosemary leaf extract limited weight gain, and improved cholesterol levels
and glycaemia in mice on a high-fat diet (Ibarra et al. 2011). Rosemary extract
and essential oil were shown both to be effective and to possess anti-colitic activ-
ity, and therefore reinforces the use of this plant as a remedy for inflammatory
bowel diseases in traditional medicine (Minaiyan et al. 2011). Rosemary has also
been found to be promising as a nutritional strategy for improving meat quality
(Banon et al. 2012).

Antioxidant Properties

Rosemary has been shown to have strong antioxidant properties (Aruoma et al.
1996; Basaga et al. 1997; Saito et al. 2004; Rababah et al. 2004; Almela et al. 2006;
D’Evoli et al., 2006; Wijeratne and Cuppett 2007; Atsumi and Tonosaki 2007;
Aherne et al. 2007; Gladine et al. 2007; Bhale et al. 2007; Ho et al. 2008; Topal et al.
2008; Mirshekar et al. 2009; Gobert et al. 2009; Klancnik et al. 2009; Hasani-
Ranjbar et al. 2009; Sasse et al. 2009; Zhang et al. 2009; Botsoglou et al. 2010;
Furtado et al. 2010; Herrero et al. 2010; Ibarra et al. 2010; Kelsey et al. 2010; Kong
et al. 2010; Kosaka et al. 2010; Luo et al. 2010; Malo et al. 2010, 2011; Menghini
et al. 2010; Pennisi et al. 2010; Perez-Fons et al. 2010; Puangsombat and Smith
2010; Tamaki et al. 2010; Tian et al. 2010; Yang et al. 2010; Zaouali et al. 2010;
Ahmed et al. 2011; Beretta et al. 2011; Bobilev et al. 2011; Cazzola et al. 2011;
Colindres and Brewer 2011; Johnson 2011; Kim et al. 2011; Kuo et al. 2011; Lara
et al. 2011; Mohamed et al. 2011; Pop 2011; Puangsombat et al. 2011; Zegura et al.
2011). Rosemary exhibits high antioxidant activity both in ground form and as an
extract and as such has been applied to various foods, displaying good antioxidative
effects (Che Man and Tan 1999; Fernandez-Lopez et al. 2003; Serdaroglu and
Felekoglu 2005; Estevez et al. 2007; Cadun et al. 2008; Liu et al. 2009; Yesilbag
et al. 2011). The phenolic diterpenes (carnosol, carnosic acid, rosmanol) and
flavonoids have been reported as the major constituents contributing to the antioxidative
500 48 Rosemary

effects of rosemary (Chen et al. 1992; Richheimer et al. 1996; Tsai et al. 2011a). The
plant extracts rich in polyphenols (including rosemary) in association with vit. E
were able to reduce lipoperoxidation in lactating cows having a diet rich in n-3
polyunsaturated fatty acids (Gobert et al. 2009). Different extracts of rosemary have
been shown to possess antioxidative activity, with the methanol extract being the
best (Chang et al. 1977). An ethanolic extract of rosemary was shown to have sub-
stantial antioxidant activity (8.1 and 12.6 mM Trolox equivalents) at 1/10 and 1/5
dilutions (Cheung and Tai 2007). The essential oil of rosemary reduced DPPH radi-
cal formation and had strong inhibition of lipid peroxidation in both systems of
induction (Bozin et al. 2007). Peng et al. (2007) found the supercritical CO2 extract
of rosemary to have nontoxic potent antitumor bioactivity. The major constituents
in the extract were rosmarinic acid, carnosol, 12-methoxycarnosic acid, carnosic
acid, and methyl carnosate. The total phenolic content was 155.8 mg/GAE/g and the
DPPH scavenging was 81.86% at 0.01 mg mL−1. The NO production was also
greatly reduced by the extract. Carnosic acid (CA) from rosemary herb activated the
Keap1/Nrf2 transcriptional pathway by binding to specific Keap1 cysteine residues,
and thus protected the neurons from oxidative stress and excitotoxicity (Satoh et al.
2008). They further presented evidence that both neuronal and non-neuronal
distribution of CA may prevent neuroprotective effect. They also showed that CA
translocated into the brain, increased the level of reduced GA in vivo, and protected
the brain against middle cerebral artery ischemia/reperfusion. Yu et al. (2008) in
their studies found CA to effectively inhibit TNF-alpha-induced migration of
HASMC as compared to the control group, and it inhibited MMP-9 activity and
expression. Furthermore, CA suppressed the production of reactive oxygen species
and the nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB p50 and p65 induced by TNF-alpha (Yu
et al. 2008). An ethanolic extract of rosemary (200 mg kg−1) was found to significantly
lower the blood glucose level and increase serum insulin levels in diabetic rabbits.
The extract also possessed the capability to inhibit lipid peroxidation and activate
antioxidant enzymes during 1 week treatment of diabetic rats (Bakirel et al. 2008).
These results suggest that the remarkable antidiabetogenic effect of rosemary extract
is due to its very potent antioxidant properties. Poeckel et al. (2008) found CA and
CS to inhibit the formation of proinflammatory leukotrienes in intact PMNL and
purified recombinant 5-lipoxygenase, and attenuate the formation of reactive oxy-
gen species and secretion of human leukocyte elastase. Herrero et al. (2010) used
different extraction procedures for rosemary antioxidants and found that pressur-
ized liquid extraction (PLE) using ethanol produced extracts with high antioxidant
activity. Rosemary was effective against thermal oxidation of natural virgin olive oil
followed by thyme and lemon (Ayadi et al. 2009). Posadas et al. (2009) found the
SFE rosemary extract (containing 20% CA) to reduce oxidative stress in aged Wistar
rats. Carnosic acid and carnosol from rosemary significantly increased the intracel-
lular level of total GSH and this could be an important step in the inhibition of adi-
pocyte differentiation in mouse 3T3-L1 cells (Takahashi et al. 2009). Oral
pretreatment of carnosic acid for 5 days to DMBA-treated hamsters significantly
protected the DMBA-induced clastogenesis as well as the biochemical abnormali-
ties. Although the exact mechanism of anti-clastogenic effects of carnosic acid is
References 501

unclear, the antioxidant potential and effect on modulation of Phase I and II

detoxification enzymes could play a possible role (Manoharan et al. 2010). Rosemary
was found to control lipid oxidation in salmon jerky snacks (Kong et al. 2011). The
total phenolics of rosemary extract obtained from the most effective extraction con-
ditions showed a high inhibitory effect on lipid peroxidation (IC(50) 33.4 mg mL−1).
Both the supercritical carbon dioxide extract and carnosic acid markedly suppressed
the LPS-induced production of nitric oxide (NO) and tumor necrosis factor-a
(TNF-a), as well as the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and
cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), phosphorylated inhibitor-kappaB (P-IkB), and nuclear
factor-kappaB (NF-kB)/p65 in a dose-dependent manner. The five major com-
pounds in the SCCO2 extract were verbenone, cirsimaritin, salvigenin, carnosol, and
CA (Kuo et al. 2011). Carnosol and carnosic acid, the two major anti-inflammatory
compounds from rosemary, differentially regulate the expression of inflammation-
associated genes, thus demonstrating the pharmacological basis for the anti-
inflammatory properties (Mengoni et al. 2011). Rosemary extract oral
supplementation was found to improve the serum PAI-1 activity and endothelial
dysfunction in both young and healthy individuals (Sinkovic et al. 2011).

Regulatory Status

GRAS 182.10 and GRAS 182.20.

Standard

ISO 11164.

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