In this episode, being careful about nutmeg.
Welcome to the Anxiety Road Podcast.
This is the involuntary journey, finding treatment options and
resources for people that have anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias..
This podcast is treatment agnostic.
My name is Gena Haskett.
Well, here we go again.
An old food substance is being presented as a way to treat anxiety.
Scraper sites are picking up the idea.
A person uses an AI app to juice it up a bit and slaps it on a website for clicks.
If you're new here, this is the podcast that looks at medical, behavioral
health, meditation, relaxation, and X equals the unknown treatment options and
resources for those of us that have an anxiety or a mental health condition.
And part of my ongoing challenge is to find reputable, accurate information
about foods and supplements that claim to help you with anxiety symptoms.
My email box is swimming in nutmeg.
Apparently it's the next big thing for anxiety relief or natural anxiety relief.
Between the lies, damn lies and the truth.
There are answers.
So let's start at the beginning.
There is a tree with a scientific name I can't begin to pronounce.
Nutmeg is a seed of that tree that's grounded into a spice powder
for food and medical properties, and it has been for centuries.
That spice is used by multiple cultures for flavoring, and some people use it
as a part of their traditional healing practices in very small amounts.
You can have it in teas, baked goods, desserts, and curries.
And when I say small amounts, I'm generally talking about maybe an eighth of
a teaspoon or point 28 grams or a quarter of a teaspoon, or about point 55 grams.
If you have to, and you probably shouldn't, one
teaspoon is about 2.2 grams.
One more thing.
Spices have a limited shelf life, so you wanna make sure you stick with
maybe containers that have a date or processing date on the container.
Once open, you have about six months to a year of potency, and this makes
a really good case for buying retail.
You don't know how long an item has been sitting on a shelf
or is actually what it is that
you paid for if you buy it online.
The United States Food and Drug Administration does state that
nutmeg is generally recognized as safe as a food ingredient.
So what's the kick about anxiety?
What can it do for you?
There's anecdotal claims that taking nutmeg in a beverage before bedtime
can help you with sleep and anxiety.
There's also talk about nutmeg helping with erectile dysfunction
or male sexual performance.
There have been studies on mice and rats, but nothing more than that.
At this time, I cannot find any scientific or verification on the statement
that it helps with anxiety symptoms.
There's little to no scientific based information on nutmeg for anxiety.
There is no food or drug administration approval for medical use for nutmeg.
However, there is a lot of information about nutmeg, the spice.
There's one thing that traditional and alternative medicines agree on.
Too much nutmeg may can cause problems including increased
anxiety, irregular heartbeat, nausea, dizziness, hallucinations, and worse.
There are products online that present themselves as being
a nutritional supplement.
There will be people who say it must be safe because it's in the supplement that
they found at the drug store or pharmacy.
The FDA generally does not regulate food supplements.
They only step in if there's been an ingredient added that
would cause harm to users.
When a search for searched for supplements, I found products that claim
not only to help you with the sleep, but.
It can be used as an antioxidant.
It fixes bad breath.
It supports healthy libido and performance and provides brain and
relaxation support and that all of that mishmash, I just said, that is
your second clue about being cautious.
When you see something labeled as an anxiety product, especially in
a supplement, you may have anxiety, but you do wanna be a safe consumer.
If a supplement promises multiple things that aren't related to each other,
it may not be an authentic product.
I'm not saying that fixing bad breath will help you sexually.
Well, actually, it would, , for those of you that have an external
appendage below the belly button, it probably will not help you.
So what's the bottom line?
If you wanna try a pinch or a dash of it in your tea or your smoothie or your
beverage before you go to bed, go for it.
Or if nutmeg is in your favorite sweet treat scarf away.
Just be really careful about overdoing it.
As usual, I do have some resources for you.
There is the Mosby's Book of Herbs and Natural Supplements
by Linda Skidmore Roth.
I would suggest you check your local library, or if you wanna purchase it, you
can, go to your online book vendor and there are ebook versions available now.
This book is specifically for, people who are deeply interested in herbs and
natural supplements or medical providers.
So that's why I'm suggesting if you're really interested in this, go to your
local library and there is a section in the book that talks about nutmeg.
There is a page on drugs.com about nutmeg.
It's very thorough.
There is an abstract from the Encyclopedia of Toxicology, third edition from 2014,
and they have, even in that short abstract will give you everything you need to
know about messing around with nutmeg.
The National Capital Poison Control Center, Kitchen Surprises and
Cautions list a number of kitchen ingredients that if you overdose
on them, can cause some problems.
From the Tennessee Poison Center, and again, they talk about what
can happen if you take a little bit too much of the substance.
So I just wanted to get that out there because every time I'm
opening up my, email and there's alerts about nutmeg and anxiety
and it's like, but, but wait, stop.
Think a moment.
I know it's increasingly rare for people to do it, but I'm, I'm gonna keep trying
and you can find all of the links for the items I mentioned@anxietyroadpodcast.com,
blog, website for links and other information resources.
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