Spices are dried seeds, fruits, roots, barks or vegetables used mainly for flavoring, coloring or preserving food. They are distinguished from herbs which are parts of leafy green plants. Many spices have antimicrobial properties which may explain their use in warmer climates with more infectious diseases and for meat which spoils easily. The spice trade developed in South Asia and the Middle East around 2000 BCE with cinnamon and pepper and in East Asia with herbs and pepper. Egyptians also used herbs for embalming which helped stimulate early world trade. By 1000 BCE medical systems using herbs existed in China, Korea and India, originally connected with magic, medicine, religion and food preservation.