Dec. 20, 2023
Nutmeg: Tasty and... Toxic?
We've all heard that "the dose makes the poison." Nowhere is this a more apt saying than with nutmeg. Hey, don't get us wrong, just a wee bit of nutmeg can help you tolerate some of those holiday food indulgences! Nutmeg is warming, has anti-parasite and pain-relieving properties, and can be used topically for pain relief. Join us as we touch on some history and give you our takes on nutmeg: the spice, the medicine, the poison. Oh, and go ahead and share this episode with so...
We've all heard that "the dose makes the poison." Nowhere is this a more apt saying than with nutmeg. Hey, don't get us wrong, just a wee bit of nutmeg can help you tolerate some of those holiday food indulgences! Nutmeg is warming, has anti-parasite and pain-relieving properties, and can be used topically for pain relief. Join us as we touch on some history and give you our takes on nutmeg: the spice, the medicine, the poison. Oh, and go ahead and share this episode with someone who would enjoy it! Maybe a friend who's a chef or a baker?
Did you know that nutmeg was a commodity so precious it was traded for Manhattan? From serving as a sleep aid (insomniacs chickens?) to its pain-relieving effects, nutmeg has lots of potential as a medicinal spice. Just remember, while nutmeg may enhance your holiday season, moderation is key, and it's always advisable to consult a professional before using higher doses of nutmeg as medicine.
Books we mention: (If you purchase, we make a small commission at no cost to you.)
Jill Stansbury's Botanical Medicine for Herbalists (formulas and how to)
A Modern Herbal, the Maude Grieves Herbal Book (originally printed in ....
Recipes:
Medieval Cookies from Atlas Obscura
Golden Milk Recipe from our blog
MEDICINAL USE:
Anti-diarrheal and Sleep inducing effects
Reduction of colon cancer (in rats)
Traditional Users: A Modern Herbal by Maude Grieves - botanical.com (FREE!)
Ayurvedic perspective of nutmeg
TOXICITY:
Tell us your thoughts on this episode!
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00:00 - Eggnog... what the heck is it anyways?
02:19 - Nutmeg on eggnog, continued
03:25 - Toxic dose?
05:46 - How about mace?
07:13 - Historical medicinal use of nutmeg
15:25 - Don't forget the fat!
18:14 - Nutmeg and colon cancer risk
22:48 - Nutmeg's Toxicity and Medicinal Potential
22:53 - Precautions
27:39 - Wrap up
WEBVTT
00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:01.024
Hey, tina, are you a fan of?
00:00:01.104 --> 00:00:06.230
Nutmeg, I can't say I'm a fan of it, as in I reach for it all that often.
00:00:06.230 --> 00:00:09.009
Do you like you don't do eggnog?
00:00:09.009 --> 00:00:15.367
No, I didn't even know what eggnog was until I don't know well into my 20s, and I don't think it was something we did.
00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:17.365
Oh my gosh, it was huge in the 70s.
00:00:17.365 --> 00:00:23.763
Yeah, it was like a big thing, like I mean, maybe it's a regional thing, I don't know, was it with alcohol?
00:00:24.044 --> 00:00:24.646
Was it spiked?
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Yeah, so my parents didn't really drink.
00:00:27.586 --> 00:00:28.945
I mean, it can be.
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It can be spiked, but I mean now they sell it in cartons.
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I don't drink it, I just the idea of it is kind of gross to me.
00:00:38.372 --> 00:00:50.014
We didn't drink much alcohol and when we did it was those really Fufu things when company came over like a brandy, alexander or a grasshopper or you know these kind of things that you put in a pretty glass.
00:00:50.462 --> 00:00:56.737
And my mom she was an officer's wife so she would throw parties and so that's what we probably had, like eggplant.
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We had eggplant punch, we had like eggnog punch or something I see.
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But I yeah the idea of it and I just the thought of.
00:01:05.498 --> 00:01:10.280
I wasn't a milk fan, so the idea of eggnog was just okay so what exactly is in eggnog?
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I mean, that's really dumb of me, but egg is just egg and what else I mean I?
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think cream, I don't know.
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Martha Stewart used to do this recipe where it was like every bottle of booze in the house and then like eggs and I don't know.
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Anyways, we're not talking about eggnog, but we are talking about nutmeg and I kind of think of the two together.
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I'm Dr Tina Kaser.
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And, as Lea likes to say, I'm the sciencey one and I'm Dr Lea Sherman and I'm the cancer insider and we're two naturopathic doctors who practice integrative cancer care, but we're not your doctors.
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This is for education, entertainment and informational purposes only.
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Do not apply any of this information with any other medical advice.
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Do this information without first speaking to your doctor.
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The views and opinions expressed on this podcast by the hosts and their guests are solely their own.
00:02:02.203 --> 00:02:03.805
Welcome to the Cancer.
00:02:03.825 --> 00:02:09.751
Pod, is it one of the times that you reach for nutmeg?
00:02:13.401 --> 00:02:15.598
So it's, yeah, it's usually sprinkled on top.
00:02:15.598 --> 00:02:20.698
So like you get a little cup of eggnog and then you sprinkle the nutmeg on top, ok, ok.
00:02:25.305 --> 00:02:26.225
It's a very Christmassy thing.
00:02:26.225 --> 00:02:31.611
Yeah, I mean, I can make it, I can make it, I can make it, I can make it, I can make it, I can make it, I can make it I can make it.
00:02:31.632 --> 00:02:32.112
I can make it.
00:02:32.112 --> 00:02:33.054
I can make it.
00:02:33.054 --> 00:02:35.336
Yeah, I mean I can, I can picture it.
00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:54.240
You take the seed, you do the little grating thing on top, yeah, or you get your little spice jar if you're, you know, if you're not that fancy to have the seed, but yes, and it's in that family of clove and cinnamon, like that kind of warm, toasty holiday season spices.
00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:56.806
So that's, that's our talk.
00:02:56.806 --> 00:03:01.430
Today is nutmeg, and neither of us really knew a lot.
00:03:01.430 --> 00:03:01.861
I should say.
00:03:01.861 --> 00:03:02.563
Now we're expert.
00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:04.805
We are like everyone else.
00:03:04.805 --> 00:03:10.747
I just went online and looked at a lot of resources and now I know everything there is to know about nutmeg.
00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:17.893
Well, I learned about it using it medicinally when I did my Ayurveda certification class.
00:03:17.893 --> 00:03:22.725
I wasn't familiar with it, so, yeah, that's kind of that's.
00:03:22.725 --> 00:03:23.889
That's my experience.
00:03:24.169 --> 00:03:34.670
OK, we both knew that if you take too much of it it could be abused, because it can be psychoactive and even fatal if you take a giant dose of it, right?
00:03:35.139 --> 00:03:39.670
And a giant dose is a lot less than I think what people think.
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So it's yeah.
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And that part I knew about.
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I knew that people were using nutmeg as a drug of abuse.
00:03:45.450 --> 00:03:48.616
I don't remember when that became like popular amongst the kids.
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You know how like they do cinnamon and tide pods or whatever the heck it is that you know the kids do.
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So yeah.
00:03:56.493 --> 00:03:58.105
So that's, that would be a big warning.
00:03:58.105 --> 00:04:01.971
It's not one of those things where if a little bit is good for you, a lot is more.
00:04:02.099 --> 00:04:08.610
A lot can kill you and how much a lot is might depend on how fresh it is and what its components are.
00:04:08.610 --> 00:04:09.031
Right.
00:04:09.031 --> 00:04:16.447
So, because some of the components that they think are that lead to that toxicity are some volatile components.
00:04:16.447 --> 00:04:22.425
So the fresher it is, the less you would need, and we're not talking I said, giant doses, but they're not that big.
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They're measured in teaspoons, they're not measured in, you know, buckets.
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Right, that's what I mean.
00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:35.483
A lot in nutmeg is really a little amount and, yeah, the fresher the more potent.
00:04:35.483 --> 00:04:49.129
So we were talking offline and I was like, well, most people have a jar of nutmeg that's probably been in their spice cabinet for many years because they use it once a year in holiday baking or on eggnog.
00:04:49.129 --> 00:04:53.814
So that might be something where you would use like two pinches or something.
00:04:53.814 --> 00:04:56.622
But yeah, I would recommend it to patients for certain things.
00:04:56.742 --> 00:05:08.314
but I would imagine, if you don't use it very often, it might be worth getting the actual nut, because then it protects those essential oils and when you go to use it it's still fresh, whereas if it's already been ground down.
00:05:08.314 --> 00:05:16.939
What grinding anything and powdering anything does and this is true of all plants the more you break it down, the more surface area there is.
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The more surface area where light or oxygen can get to it, the faster it goes bad.
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So that's true of cinnamon sticks.
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They'll stay more flavorful and have more essential oils preserved if you just use the stick and grind it up as needed.
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That's true of any spice.
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So in the grand scheme, I would imagine getting one nutmeg seed and having that over time.
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It would.
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It would keep for a very long time, much longer than the powder would, and it's a pretty seed, yeah.
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Yeah, should we talk about mace as well?
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Well, yeah, so, yeah.
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So nutmeg, it's a seed that's inside of a fruit that's on a tree.
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So the nutmeg is that seed itself, and then mace, which sometimes people use those interchangeably.
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That is the membrane that surrounds the seed.
00:06:04.836 --> 00:06:07.983
Mm-hmm, right the aryl part of the seed.
00:06:07.983 --> 00:06:10.290
So it's a seed coat sort of that.
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They take off of the nutmeg.
00:06:12.115 --> 00:06:15.081
So you know seeds and nuts growing trees as fruit.
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Just picture a chestnut if you've had chestnut trees, or pecans or walnuts, I mean they.
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They grow in this large fleshy fruit and inside is the seed or the nut.
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You know they grow on the tree looking kind of soft and usually green or yellow, and then they fall and degrade on the ground.
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So if you can get them as soon as they fall, then you can break them open and enjoy the nut inside, or the seed in this case.
00:06:40.355 --> 00:06:44.786
Yeah, when I was in Indiana you'd see like walnut fruits everywhere and the squirrels would go in and just like.
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Yeah, yeah, in Tulsa, oklahoma, the pecan trees were everywhere and people had this little round thing that they on the end of a stick and it had springy wires across it and they would just roll it, like people who golf do this with golf balls too.
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You just roll it and it pops inside your little ball roller and then you empty it into a bucket and you do it again.
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You keep filling it up.
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You can grab a lot of seeds or golf balls, depending what you're doing.
00:07:11.375 --> 00:07:12.903
Don't eat what's inside a golf ball.
00:07:12.903 --> 00:07:31.067
So I think there's more information out there on like the historical use of nutmeg than the modern use, because it's not really used a lot except for from what I've seen in Indian traditional Indian medicine, ayurveda or, yeah, it's used in.
00:07:31.648 --> 00:07:34.778
I mean, it's used in Ayurveda and it's used in Indian cooking, isn't it?
00:07:34.858 --> 00:07:37.095
It's in Garam Masala because I did look that up.
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But I mean it's used.
00:07:38.682 --> 00:07:41.475
I've seen nutmeg used in lasagna recipes.
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I mean it's used more as a cooking spice than as a medicinal spice.
00:07:46.115 --> 00:08:07.505
But you know what's interesting when we're always looking this up is that I mean, we all know the spice trade and the colonization of many of the islands in Polynesia for their spices and you know back in the day the 1500s, 1600s, when the Dutch trade was going on and there's really interesting stories online about the history of it.
00:08:07.505 --> 00:08:17.615
But I didn't realize that some of the value of those spices to the Europeans at that time, and why they were so, so valuable, was some of their medicinal effects which I did not realize.
00:08:17.615 --> 00:08:19.615
I guess part of my brain never made that connection.
00:08:19.615 --> 00:08:35.433
I mean, that sounds crazy because I know spices are medicine, but in a general sense, and I know about colonization at least from many moons ago, but I never put two and two together and thought, oh, they were actually using the spices as medicine, not just as cooking spices.
00:08:35.433 --> 00:08:40.567
Right, they were actually bringing medicine over and that's part of the reason they were so valuable.
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Yeah, because I always think of it, as you know, like something like cinnamon or you know other spices, that the value came in the fact that only the wealthy could afford it.
00:08:50.070 --> 00:08:53.615
That's where I thought the value came from Right.
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And then there's the whole story, which I don't know all the details of, but the whole idea of Dutch colonization, and I don't know how Manhattan was traded for an island in Indonesia, or something like that, With the British yeah, the British had the island and the Dutch had Manhattan and they traded it.
00:09:12.895 --> 00:09:15.544
Okay, so I'm looking at a website.
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I'm looking at it because this is kind of an interesting website called Atlas Obscura.
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Oh, I love that website.
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Dutch colonists committed genocide to secure a spice monopoly.
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But there's more to the story and the name of the article, if anyone wants to read.
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The whole thing is called the Hidden History of the Nutmeg Island.
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That was traded for Manhattan.
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Oh, let's link to it in our show notes.
00:09:36.241 --> 00:09:38.615
Yeah, but it's more than just a dash of flavor.
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It was done for their medicinal benefit.
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Medicinal purposes.
00:09:42.615 --> 00:09:48.427
Yeah, so historically nutmeg has been used for intestinal disorders.
00:09:48.427 --> 00:09:51.504
It was used in embalming by the Egyptians.
00:09:51.504 --> 00:09:56.595
The seeds have been used as an aphrodisiac antiflatulent.
00:09:56.595 --> 00:10:02.548
It can induce menses and because of that it's used as an abortifashion.
00:10:04.019 --> 00:10:05.403
Probably in large doses once again.
00:10:06.015 --> 00:10:11.427
But I mean that shows that I mean they were really using it a lot for medicine, right.
00:10:11.427 --> 00:10:15.725
I mean it had kind of a wide range of ailments that it covered.
00:10:16.105 --> 00:10:21.615
Oh yeah, I have some old herbal books and some new ones, but let's see the one I'm looking at right now.
00:10:21.615 --> 00:10:27.575
I took a picture of the page so I'm not 100% sure, but I think this is Jill Stansberry's book that came out not too long ago.
00:10:27.575 --> 00:10:44.615
She's an herbalist and naturopathic doc up in Washington and one of our teachers in school, and she has a series of books that are very good and if you're really into putting formulas together and understanding herbal medicine, I highly recommend her for volume series.
00:10:44.615 --> 00:10:56.491
Anyways, it says Maristica, which is the Latin name for nutmeg, stimulates appetite and has anti-emetic, which means it's anti-nausea and anti-vomiting, and carbonative effects.
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Carbonative is the herbal term for lowering your flatulence, so carbonative effects, so it's good to add to things like bean dishes, right?
00:11:05.446 --> 00:11:15.919
The use of nutmeg essential oil or freshly grated whole nuts may allay pain when topically applied, so it's good for a topical pain relief.
00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:19.708
Which makes sense, because it's kind of in that whole campfuri-ish.
00:11:20.551 --> 00:11:25.100
Yeah, yes, Campfer, eugenol, that whole.
00:11:25.765 --> 00:11:29.336
Nutmeg and clove seem very like those very warming.
00:11:29.764 --> 00:11:38.551
Yeah, the essential oil inside there, I think, is eugenol E-U-G-E-N-O-L that they have in common and it does have a lot of medicinal benefits.
00:11:38.551 --> 00:12:13.408
But anyways, they've used it for skin lesions, itching, parasites on the skin, ointments and poultices for pain anywhere hemorrhoidal pain so it seems like medicinally, the best way and safest way for anyone who wants to use nutmeg would be like you said use a pinch, use a small mount or use it topically for pain, and something that I found was that the German Commission E says it's an unapproved herb and then another organization suggested it's only used under the supervision of somebody who knows how to use it.
00:12:13.910 --> 00:12:16.280
So again, that's kind of like essential oils, right?
00:12:16.280 --> 00:12:19.072
We don't recommend people take essential oils internally, right?
00:12:20.275 --> 00:12:21.341
It's really the same reason.
00:12:21.341 --> 00:12:32.830
Yeah, because it's the essential oil that contains the toxic compounds, and so internal use of essential oils should be done under the guidance of people who know how to do that.
00:12:32.830 --> 00:12:36.238
But topical use, I think that's a fair game.
00:12:36.238 --> 00:12:52.591
So aromatherapy, so when we're doing essential oils and we're just breathing them in, I think that that's fair game for anyone to use, and I think poultices and ointments and, you know, like anything that has the plant topically applied, I don't think you can get yourself in too much trouble with essential oils.
00:12:53.313 --> 00:12:58.553
I would probably recommend I wouldn't apply it directly, I would have it mixed with something.
00:12:59.056 --> 00:13:01.345
Always, you mean essential oil, the essential oil.
00:13:01.345 --> 00:13:05.240
Yeah, Essential oil-wise, yeah, I would, just because I just would think it.
00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:08.150
To me it seems like it would be really kind of irritating.
00:13:08.150 --> 00:13:16.774
It's a use in small doses, but yeah, as aromatherapy again for like just having it in your room at holiday time.
00:13:16.774 --> 00:13:21.090
I mean it's one of the benefits is it helps to alleviate anxiety.
00:13:21.090 --> 00:13:23.173
It can help with depression.
00:13:23.173 --> 00:13:28.451
That was a while ago that I had read that Nutmeg can be helpful for depression.
00:13:28.451 --> 00:13:31.058
A lot of the studies were in rats.
00:13:31.058 --> 00:13:37.086
Like most of the studies that I found on Nutmeg in general were rat studies.
00:13:37.086 --> 00:13:46.491
Okay, yeah, but I think that if you had found an essential oil blend that had Nutmeg and other kind of seasonal fragrances, that would be really nice and kind of uplifting.
00:13:46.633 --> 00:14:02.551
I was entertained in reading I don't remember which website it said it, but I actually put it in my notes for this and it says an animal study published in the Journal of Ethno Pharmacology showed that taking an extract of Nutmeg helped significantly increase the duration of sleep in chickens.
00:14:04.494 --> 00:14:05.174
I love that.
00:14:05.174 --> 00:14:10.337
I love that so, and I don't I feel bad for the chickens if they have insomnia.
00:14:10.580 --> 00:14:17.366
Well, I was just going to say if your chickens aren't sleeping, well you know, throw it in and chickens do really well with spices too.
00:14:17.447 --> 00:14:21.134
I would put cayenne in my chicken's food, and stuff.
00:14:21.154 --> 00:14:21.535
just to help.
00:14:21.535 --> 00:14:22.278
I think it's awesome.
00:14:22.278 --> 00:14:25.491
Great visual in my head A little chicken's roosting.
00:14:25.832 --> 00:14:42.054
So the way that I was taught to use Nutmeg was you add a pinch or two at night to your warm milk it could be your warm oat milk or cow's milk or golden milk at night to kind of help relax you and help you sleep.
00:14:42.054 --> 00:14:47.014
I tried it because I learned about it and I was like, oh, I'll try it.
00:14:47.014 --> 00:14:48.861
It does help to induce sleep.
00:14:48.861 --> 00:14:50.226
Make sure that it's fresh.
00:14:50.226 --> 00:14:55.818
If it's not fresh, don't add a ton because you will have crazy dreams.
00:14:55.818 --> 00:15:00.552
Crazy dreams really vivid, wild dreams.
00:15:01.073 --> 00:15:02.135
And this is just from a pinch.
00:15:02.756 --> 00:15:08.375
No, that happened when I I had old Nutmeg and so I was recommended that I try no more than a quarter teaspoon.
00:15:08.375 --> 00:15:09.870
Okay, I did that once.
00:15:09.870 --> 00:15:10.974
I'm not doing that ever again.
00:15:10.974 --> 00:15:16.792
I mean, you can have vivid dreams if it's pretty fresh, but they get weird.
00:15:16.792 --> 00:15:19.379
Okay, the higher dose you go.
00:15:19.379 --> 00:15:24.633
So yeah, I, even if somebody does like a sleepy time tea, just do a little pinch in there.
00:15:25.354 --> 00:15:41.616
And you know to your point when you say golden milk which we will link to our recipe on golden milk, because we've talked about curcumin in a prior episode and golden milk is basically turmeric and a milk of some kind, whether it's real milk, like cow's milk, or it's a, you know, milk alternative.
00:15:41.616 --> 00:15:48.363
In any case, the important thing to think about there is that you're extracting something into fat rather than pure water.
00:15:48.363 --> 00:15:53.748
So when we make a sleepy time tea and we use a tea bag for that and there's no nutmeg in there, there's no curcumin.
00:15:53.748 --> 00:15:55.956
It's a commercial brand of a tea.
00:15:55.956 --> 00:16:11.874
If you're going to add nutmeg, you would want to add a little bit, just a dash even, of some kind of fat, whether that's a little bit of milk or milk alternative, because I think the fatty part is important to absorbing the components you want absorbed from a given plant.
00:16:12.921 --> 00:16:13.604
I never thought of that.
00:16:14.365 --> 00:16:17.269
Yeah, for me whenever I think about ingesting anything.
00:16:17.269 --> 00:16:21.346
I used to, even when people would pull out their Vitamixer and you're just juicing.
00:16:21.346 --> 00:16:28.067
Right, you're doing some kale and some mango, for example, or throwing some apples or whatever you have handy, you're putting it to your juicer and you're having a glass of that.
00:16:28.067 --> 00:16:40.332
Some kind of fat would be nice, because what you're doing is breaking open cell walls and inside there's all that colorful stuff, that, but it's inside the cell and it gets released.
00:16:40.332 --> 00:16:41.846
They're all fat soluble.
00:16:41.846 --> 00:16:50.304
So I often tell people to do something Take your fish oil at that time when you're doing your drink, or have it with some coconut oil or something.
00:16:50.899 --> 00:16:52.443
I think of that with greens.
00:16:52.443 --> 00:16:58.168
For sure to get the carotenoids, but yeah, I don't really accept for something like turmeric.
00:16:58.168 --> 00:17:00.908
I don't really think of adding the fat, so that's interesting.
00:17:01.428 --> 00:17:08.166
Yeah, I think it would be true of anything that has essential oils we want to get the benefits from, or any oils, really fixed oils.
00:17:08.166 --> 00:17:13.111
So I'm just going to say, in the nutmeg there's fixed oils and there are essential oils.
00:17:13.111 --> 00:17:18.865
And when we talk about essential oils in a plant, essential oils in a plant are the ones that we smell.
00:17:18.865 --> 00:17:24.410
That's what gives it its fragrance, that's what's coming off of that seed when you grate it and it smells so good.
00:17:24.410 --> 00:17:32.555
So, whether you're smelling cinnamon, you're smelling clove, you're smelling nutmeg, what you're smelling, what's going into the air and into your nose, are essential oils.
00:17:32.555 --> 00:17:35.808
They're so volatile they just get released at room temperature.
00:17:36.200 --> 00:17:39.838
There's also some fixed oils in those seeds and fixed oils are not being released.
00:17:39.838 --> 00:17:43.268
They're just stuck in there, right, they're not degrading at room temperature.
00:17:43.268 --> 00:17:47.809
They might degrade at 100 degrees or 120 degrees, or stick them in the oven.
00:17:47.809 --> 00:17:48.451
They'll degrade.
00:17:48.451 --> 00:17:53.885
But I just want to be clear about what an essential oil is and what it means to a spice, so that people can understand it.
00:17:53.885 --> 00:18:09.584
And those essential oils a lot of them, most of them, have medicinal properties and the best way to extract the medicinal property is either inhale it straight in or extract it with some kind of fat so we can absorb it, the more you know.
00:18:09.584 --> 00:18:12.567
I don't know much about nutmeg, but I know a lot about absorption.
00:18:14.262 --> 00:18:20.606
Well, speaking of absorption, I need to find the article because it's in my note but I didn't link to the article.
00:18:20.606 --> 00:18:34.733
There was research where because this is the cancer pods, we're going to talk about cancer in mice with colon cancer nutmeg helped to modulate bacteria favorably.
00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:37.265
So I was going to say in a good way, right, okay?
00:18:38.367 --> 00:18:45.375
Yeah, and I think that's really interesting because there are a lot of different herbs and spices that modulate.
00:18:45.375 --> 00:18:48.547
I mean, they all pretty much have some effect on bacteria.
00:18:48.547 --> 00:18:55.913
So I thought that was kind of a because I tried to find the cancer relationship to what we're talking about.
00:18:55.913 --> 00:18:58.106
So that was the one that I found, yeah.
00:18:58.819 --> 00:19:07.570
Well, and it's just in a very loose way, we can also say that maybe that has something to do not just nutmeg, but spices in general.
00:19:07.570 --> 00:19:19.089
Maybe that has something to do with why there is a lot lot less colorectal cancer in India in general than there is in Westernized countries.
00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:22.166
Because of the use of the spices, nutmeg specifically.
00:19:22.548 --> 00:19:23.349
Right, right.
00:19:23.349 --> 00:19:35.279
What I'm thinking is it's a combination of a lot of the essential oils found in various spices and there's a much higher consumption there of various spices, whether it is garam masala, curry, whatever.
00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:35.820
I mean.
00:19:35.820 --> 00:19:44.092
There's way more than we're exposed to here in the United States, because if you ever seen someone cook who's native to India, it's like a symphony of spices.
00:19:44.092 --> 00:19:47.126
Like how did you just put 30 spices in one dish at an unerstand?
00:19:47.126 --> 00:19:48.790
And it tastes delicious.
00:19:49.880 --> 00:19:59.349
So all of these have antimicrobial properties and so it's probably that, and they're anti-inflammatory and so that's probably a lot of what is playing into this.
00:19:59.349 --> 00:20:00.565
But I just thought that was interesting.
00:20:00.565 --> 00:20:05.211
I will put a link to the abstract at least if people want to look further into that.
00:20:05.211 --> 00:20:15.412
So but yeah, I didn't really find a lot, if anything, on human studies other than the fact that it can be very dangerous and to use it in extreme moderation.
00:20:15.412 --> 00:20:21.792
What was interesting was the homeopathic of nutmeg.
00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:32.231
If you look at the indications and with homeopathy the indications for taking something are typically the side effect you would get from ingesting too much of right.
00:20:32.231 --> 00:20:33.523
Is that the good way to explain it?
00:20:33.523 --> 00:20:41.201
So like if people apply Arnica or use the pellets for Arnica for bruising bruise like pain.
00:20:41.201 --> 00:20:47.805
That is because it was observed a long time ago that if you ingest Arnica you will experience bruise like pain.
00:20:47.805 --> 00:21:01.459
So yeah, so the Nux Machada, which is the or I don't even know how you say it because I don't do homeopathy but looking up the homeopathic indications, it's things like delirium hallucinations.
00:21:01.459 --> 00:21:04.798
So that was kind of interesting, yeah.
00:21:05.220 --> 00:21:07.026
Sorry, I have a corgi in the background.
00:21:07.026 --> 00:21:23.307
It's interesting that you mentioned bruising, because in one of the older herbal textbooks I came across some of the oils or the essential oil components, that Eugenol that I mentioned, having platelet aggregate prevention, so keeping your platelets from sticking together.
00:21:23.307 --> 00:21:38.045
And what's interesting, when you talk about an anti-cancer effect, a lot of things in nature that stop blood clotting also have anti-cancer effects, just in a general sense, for example, red clover or, in this case, nutmeg.
00:21:38.045 --> 00:21:50.518
There is something in common with platelet aggregation and cancer formation, and now it could be just that it has to do with aggregation of cancer cells, because when cells stick together, there are certain mechanisms that are used Regardless.
00:21:50.518 --> 00:21:57.638
There just seems to be an association between natural agents known to stop platelets from aggregating, which is a blood clot.
00:21:58.059 --> 00:22:00.086
When platelets aggregate, that's what causes the blood clot.
00:22:00.086 --> 00:22:17.204
So then I start thinking well, if that's the case, maybe we should sprinkle a little bit of this on those hot teas that we're having when we have COVID, because people who have COVID have an increased risk of blood clots just in general, and they have that risk for like a couple months at least, if not three months, after the infection.
00:22:17.204 --> 00:22:23.000
Yeah, interesting, yeah, yeah, just another thing to consider.
00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:25.265
I often for these when we don't have studies.
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