An Imperative Analysis on Nutmeg and Mace Spi...

An Imperative Analysis on Nutmeg and Mace Spice to study their Nutritional Benefits and effect on human health

Author Name : Bijoy Kumar Dey, Suparna Sanyal Mukherjee

ABSTRACT

Myristica Fragrans is a tropical plant, growing 9-12m high, chiefly cultivated in Maluka region of Indonesia and the West Indies. Other producers include India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean Islands. Mace (Javitri) and Nutmeg (Jaiphal) are of the same fruit of the same tree. Mace is a beautiful and bright red skein located around the nutmeg seed. Nutmeg is the brown seed located inside the mace. Nutmeg and mace have a variety of medicinal uses besides their culinary uses. This popular spice has a long list of health benefits including relieving pain and inflammation, improving skin conditions, detoxing the body, while improving sleep, blood circulation, cognition and digestive process. The nutmeg and mace is the main source for two distinct spices, nutmeg and mace where the seed kernel inside the fruits is the source of the spice named “nutmeg”, while the dried flesh around the seed is the source of spice named “mace”. Nutmeg oil production is about 500-1200Kg per hectare and the oil is characterized by its unique pungent fragrance and warm taste. Nutmeg is listed among the most traded commodities in the worlds according to the Product Complexity Index (PCL); 81.7% of the nutmeg export market worldwide is mainly coming from 5 countries; India, Indonesia, Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Srilanka while the rest is coming from other countries. India is considered to be the leading exports of nutmeg worldwide where the market has reached $ million in 2016. Nutmeg extracts and essential oil are used in new drug developments in India, China and other tropical countries due to the various pharmacological activities. Scientists from various disciplines are now directing their research towards investigating the effects of M.fragans on human health. The objective of this review was to show comprehensive information on the nutritional, medicinal and pharmacological aspects of M. fragrans. From this review it was revealed that nutmeg possesses various pharmacological activities like hepato protective activity, anti-oxidant activity, memory enhancing activity, cytotoxicity, aphrodisiac activity, anti-diabetic activity, anti-depressant activity, hypolipidemic and hypocholesterolemic effect, anti-microbial activity, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic activity and pesticidal activity.

Keywords : Myristica Fragrans, Nutmeg, Culinary, Pharmacological.