## 2 Results and Discussion
### Bioactive Potential of VOMs Identified in the Investigated Spices  
It is well known that the spices investigated in this work have long been used to add flavor to the foodstuffs and to enhance the quality of the food. In addition, many of them also act as excellent preservatives which increase the shelf life of foods by delaying the spoilage process [26]. Such spices are also a rich source of biologically active compounds, which have antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, cytotoxic, antiproliferative, anticancer and even anti-HIV properties, among others [4; 13; 32]. These properties are beneficial to human health and help to fight several ailments of the human body. The VOMs are part of such biologically active compounds and have a high influence on the spice's bioactive potential. That is why many of the VOMs identified in the spices analyzed have been previously reported in other food samples, with a significant number of biological activities such as those mentioned above [33; 34]. Therefore, these VOMs could help prevent and treat diseases like cancer [35], inflammatory diseases [36], diabetes [37], and cardiovascular diseases [38], among others. Table 2 shows the potential bioactive effects of some VOMs identified in the spice samples under investigation. Among these VOMs, terpenoids are one of the most dominant chemical families found in fruits and vegetables [39], which agrees with the results obtained in this work. terpenoids, biosynthesized through isopentyl diphosphate, and the methylerythitol phosphate and mevalonate pathways are the major contributors to the total volatile composition of cumin, curry and sweet paprika (Figure 1A). In turn, sesquiterpenoids are the major contributors to the total volatile composition of saffron and black pepper and are abundantly present in the total volatile fraction of cinnamon, where carbonyl compounds are more abundant (Figure 1A). Therefore, terpenoids and sesquiterpenoids are the ones that contributed most to the characterization of the total volatile profile of the spices investigated. Monoterpenes have several beneficial biological effects reported in several works [36; 41]. terpenoids, such as \(\alpha\)-pinene (#15), sabinene (#23), (+)-3-carene (#25), \(\beta\)-myrcrene (#27), \(\alpha\)-phellandrene (#28), \(\alpha\)-terpinene (#30), limonene (#31), \(\beta\)-phellandrene (#32), \(p\)-cyrene (#42), linalool (#68), \(\alpha\)-terpineol (#107), cuminaldehyde (#130) and thymol (#156), possess high potential antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, neuroprotective and immunosutimulant properties [10; 36; 38; 41; 42]. However, the most remarkable bioactivity of terpenoids is related to their anticancer potential, acting at different stages of tumor development and in different mechanisms of action (inhibition, regulation of intracellular signaling pathways) [42; 43]. Limonene was the third and fourth major VOM, in terms of relative peak area, found in the black pepper and sweet paprika samples, respectively. The chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic properties of limonene against human cancers were widely demonstrated by [PERSON] et al. [44] and [PERSON] et al. [45]. Cuminaldehyde is an oxidized aldehyde monoterpene found as a major VOM in the cumin and curry spices analyzed. The relative peak area obtained for this compound in the cumin sample was very remarkable (9694.8), being more than twelve times greater than that determined in the curry sample (Table 1). Cuminaldehyde was also identified in the sweet paprika sample, although in lower amounts. Therefore, the results obtained about cuminaldehyde agree with those reported by [PERSON] [11], with cuminaldehyde being the main bioactive compound of cumin and presenting many of the bioactive properties cited previously [10]. On the other hand, several sesquiterpenoids also stood out in the volatile composition of some of the spices investigated.