CHAPTER 19: Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans)

Nutmeg spice (made from dried seeds) and mace (made from the coating round the seeds) are from Myristica fragrans and both used to flavour food. Nutmeg is used for medicinal purposes and religious practices and even to make jewellery. Nutmeg possesses a distinctive pungent fragrance whilst mace has a sweeter and milder flavour. There is a small amount of scientific literature on the bioactive properties of nutmeg, and/or its essential oil, and much of this work comes from in vitro and in vivo (animal) studies. This spice is reported to possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, glucose lowering, anti-diabetic, lipid lowering, anti-thrombotic, chemopreventive/anti-cancer, hepatoprotective, anti-depressant, anti-convulsant, anti-microbial and anti-parasitic properties. The lignin constituents of mace are reported to possess immunomodulatory and radioprotective properties.