• Yee-Lean Lee, Thomas Cesario, Yang Wang, Edward Shanbrom, and Lauri Thrupp.
• University of California Irvine Medical Center, Orange, California, USA.
• Nutrition. 2003 Nov 1; 19 (11-12): 994-6.

ObjectiveWe evaluated the antibacterial activities of various fruit and vegetable extracts on common potential pathogens including antibiotic-resistant strains.MethodsStandardized bacterial inocula were added to serial dilutions of sterile vegetable and fruit extracts in broth, with final bacterial concentrations of 10(4-5) cells/mL. After overnight incubation at 35 degrees C, antibacterial activity was measured by minimum inhibitory and minimum bactericidal dilutions (for raw juices) or concentrations (for tea).ResultsAmong the vegetable and fruit extracts tested, all green vegetables showed no antibacterial activity on Staphylococcus epidermidis and Klebsiella pneumoniae. All purple and red vegetable and fruit juices had antibacterial activities in dilutions ranging from 1:2 to 1:16. Garlic juice had significant activity, with bactericidal action in dilutions ranging up to 1:128 of the original juice. Tea also had significant activity, with bactericidal action in concentrations ranging up to 1.6 mg/mL, against a spectrum of pathogens including resistant strains such as methicillin- and ciprofloxacin-resistant staphylococci, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, and ciprofloxacin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa.ConclusionsTea and garlic have the potential for exploration of broader applications as antibacterial agents.

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