Mini Review: Potential of Salam (Syzygium polyanthum (Wight) Walp) Leaf as Antibacterial Agent

Bacterial infection is one of the health problems worldwide. Antibiotics are given to patients to eradicate infections caused by bacteria. However, the increasing incidence of antibiotic resistance and bacterial infections demands alternative antibiotics, for example, those derived from natural ingredients. Bay leaf (Syzygium polyanthum (Wight) Walp) belongs to the Myrtaceae family and is one of the plants that is widely known among Indonesian which empirically has properties in curing various diseases. Bay leaves are known to contain secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, saponins, triterpenoids, steroids, eugenol, and essential oils which could act as antibacterial agents. This literature review discusses the antibacterial activity of bay leaves against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as well as the active compounds in bay leaves and their antibacterial mechanism. The reviewed articles were scientific articles that have been published in databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, and Science Direct in the last 10 years. Based on the literature studies, bay leaves have the potential to be explored as new antibacterial agents.