Nutmeg Stats & Data
Pharmacology
DrugBankDescription
Nutmeg allergenic extract is used in allergenic testing.
Receptor Profile
Receptor Actions
History & Culture
1500 BCE–13th century
Nutmeg is native to the Banda Islands, a cluster of eleven small volcanic islands within the Maluku archipelago of eastern Indonesia. These remote islands remained the world's sole source of both nutmeg and mace until the mid-nineteenth century. Archaeological excavations on Pulau Ai have yielded potsherd residues dating back approximately 3,500 years, representing the earliest known evidence of nutmeg use. The spice circulated through Austronesian maritime trading networks from at least 1500 BCE. By the sixth century CE, nutmeg had spread westward to India and subsequently reached Constantinople. Arab merchants eventually traced the spice to its source in the Banda Islands by the thirteenth century, though they carefully concealed this information from European traders to maintain their commercial advantage.
1511–1945
European pursuit of nutmeg commenced following the Portuguese conquest of Malacca in August 1511. Shortly after securing this strategic trading hub, Afonso de Albuquerque dispatched a three-ship expedition under António de Abreu to locate the legendary spice islands. Malay pilots guided the fleet through Java and the Lesser Sundas, reaching Banda in early 1512. This marked the first European contact with the islands, where the expedition spent approximately one month acquiring nutmeg, mace, and cloves. The Portuguese apothecary Tomé Pires, stationed in Malacca from 1512 to 1515, documented these islands in his work Suma Oriental. However, Portugal never established permanent control over the trade. The Dutch East India Company waged a brutal campaign for monopoly over nutmeg production in 1621. The violence was catastrophic for the indigenous Bandanese population—historians estimate that of approximately 15,000 inhabitants, only around 1,000 survived, with the remainder killed, starved during flight, exiled, or sold into slavery. The Company subsequently constructed extensive plantation systems throughout the islands. During the Napoleonic Wars, British forces temporarily occupied the Banda Islands and transplanted nutmeg trees, along with their native soil, to Ceylon, Penang, Bencoolen, and Singapore. From these locations, cultivation spread to additional colonial territories including Zanzibar and Grenada. Dutch control of the Spice Islands persisted until the Second World War.
Nutmeg has acquired symbolic importance in several regions shaped by its trade history. Grenada, which developed into a major producer following British colonial transplantation efforts, incorporated a stylized split-open nutmeg fruit into its national flag upon adoption in 1974. In the United States, Connecticut carries the nickname "the Nutmeg State," purportedly stemming from folklore about dishonest traders who carved wooden imitations to deceive buyers. The expression "wooden nutmeg" subsequently entered American vernacular as a general term for fraudulent merchandise. Beyond culinary applications, nutmeg has traditionally been consumed for its psychoactive and reputed aphrodisiac properties, though clinical evidence supporting these uses remains limited. Its widespread availability and low cost have led to recreational experimentation, particularly among adolescents, college students, and incarcerated individuals seeking inexpensive intoxication.
Toxicity
PsychonautWikiMyristicin is neurotoxic and can be fatal in extremely high doses. Also myristicin causes severe dehydration. It increases side effects of myristicin.
Addiction & dependence
Myristicin is not known to be addictive and the desire to use it can actually decrease with use. Information regarding tolerance is unknown.
Effect Profile
Curated + 320 ReportsStrong visuals and auditory effects with moderate body load, low headspace
Empirical Duration
Erowid ReportsMedian times after the dose that Erowid reports state. A curve is drawn only when reports state all four points (onset, peak begins, comedown begins, back to baseline) and the medians fall in that order. No point is estimated from another.
Tolerance & Pharmacokinetics
drugs.wikiTolerance Decay
No controlled data on tolerance development; given the long duration and rare repeated recreational use, practical guidance is to allow at least 1–2 weeks between exposures to minimize cumulative physiological stress and residual impairment. Data quality: anecdotal/low.
Demographics
Gender Distribution
Age Distribution
Reports Over Time
Effect Analysis
Erowid + BluelightEffects aggregated from 320 experience reports (305 single-substance Erowid + 15 Bluelight)
Effect Sentiment Distribution
Confidence Distribution
Each bar is the share of reports mentioning the effect; its whisker, and the band on the rows below, is the 95% interval: where the share could plausibly be with other reports of the same kind.
Rows resting on fewer than 20 reports show a count (“3 of 7”) instead of a bar. Why 20?
Positive Effects 35
Adverse Effects 34
Show 14 more adverse effects
Show 19 neutral or unclassified mentions
Also reported in combinations. In the 72 Nutmeg reports where another drug was taken too, 6 (8.3%) mention hospital, emergency services or an overdose, 1 (1.4%) a seizure and 4 (5.6%) psychosis. In the 305 single-substance reports: 7.9%, 0.7% and 1.6%. These are not in the figures above: they cannot be put down to Nutmeg alone, and a mention is not always something that happened to the writer.
Subjective Effect Ontology
Experience ReportsStructured effect tags extracted from 392 Erowid & Bluelight experience reports using a controlled vocabulary of 220+ canonical effects across 15 domains.
Auditory
Emotional
Gastrointestinal
Motor
Visual
Dosage Distribution
Dose distribution from experience reports, one dose per report (the first listed). Doses above Q3 + 3×IQR, far above what people typically take, are left out of the median and range and listed under each route: most are real heavy doses or overdoses, not mistakes.
3 reports gave a dose above the typical range (65,000–70,000 mg), so they are not in the figures above. 1 of them mentions hospital, emergency services or an overdose. Listing a dose here does not mean it is safe.
Real-World Dose Distribution
ErowidFrom 130 of 448 recorded dose entries: those that state a weight (mg, g or µg), in routes with at least five of them. Values above Q3 + 3×IQR, far above what people typically take, are left out; they can include real heavy doses and overdoses, not only mistakes.
Oral (n=130)
Common Combinations
Most co-occurring substances, as a share of all 377 reports filed under Nutmeg; whiskers are 95% intervals
Form / Preparation
Most common forms and preparations, as a share of the 300 reports that give one; whiskers are 95% intervals
Body-Weight Dosing
Dose per kg of body weight, one dose per report (the first listed), from reports giving a weight of 30–250 kg. Doses above Q3 + 3×IQR, far above what people typically take, are left out of the median and range and listed under each route.
2 reports gave a dose above the typical range (895.317–928.571 mg/kg), so they are not in the figures above. 1 of them mentions hospital, emergency services or an overdose. Listing a dose here does not mean it is safe.
Show the reports
- 928.571 mg/kg · mentions hospital, emergency services or an overdose
- 895.317 mg/kg
Redose Patterns
Redosing behavior across 311 reports
Harm Reduction
drugs.wikiKey harm-reduction considerations and rationale (evidence lines include summaries from clinical/animal toxicology, case compilations, and large experience repositories): 1) Delayed onset with very long duration raises redosing and impairment risks — effects often begin 2–7 h after ingestion, peak near 8–12 h, and can last 24–36 h with after-effects up to 72 h, so redosing within the first 8–12 h substantially increases the chance of severe dysphoria and toxic effects; driving or operating machinery should be avoided for at least the remainder of the day and often the next day. 2) Potency varies widely between seeds and powders; essential oil is far more concentrated — composition differences (myristicin, elemicin, safrole, terpenes) and storage/freshness lead to unpredictable strength; pre-ground supermarket spice can be weaker or stale, while fresh whole seed and essential oil can be much stronger; essential oil ingestion has been associated with more severe toxicity (including seizures) and is not recommended. 3) Clinical toxidrome commonly includes anticholinergic-like symptoms (dry mouth, blurred vision, urinary retention), tachycardia, flushing, agitation, confusion, and sometimes paranoia or frank delirium; management is supportive and effects usually resolve within 24–48+ h. 4) Historical and toxicology sources implicate allylbenzenes; myristicin itself is a major component of nutmeg/mace oils; myristicin’s exact contribution to human psychotropic effects remains uncertain, but toxicology programs studied it because of broad exposure and structural similarity to other flavoring alkenylbenzenes with toxic potential in rodents. 5) Pregnancy/lactation: avoid doses above culinary use — nutmeg/mace oils are GRAS for food amounts, but high doses can produce anticholinergic symptoms and there is historical concern for abortifacient potential; LactMed advises avoiding amounts above flavoring doses during breastfeeding. 6) Liver prudence: while myristicin’s carcinogenicity in humans is unproven, related alkenylbenzenes (e.g., safrole, methyleugenol) show hepatotoxic/carcinogenic signals in rodents; avoid combining large nutmeg doses with alcohol or other hepatotoxic exposures and avoid repeated use. 7) Practical HR: weigh doses with a scale; start low on a separate day with nothing else onboard; do not redose the same day; plan a low-stimulus setting, temperature control, and passive hydration (small, regular sips; avoid extreme over- or underhydration); monitor for chest pain, fever, severe confusion, seizures, or urinary retention — seek urgent care if these occur; avoid in children and in people with cardiovascular disease, urinary retention history, glaucoma, severe psychiatric vulnerability, or pregnancy.
Evidence/citations supporting the above points are listed in the citations field.
References
Data Sources
Cited References
- ChemSpider: Myristicin Chemical Structure
- Erowid: Nutmeg Basics
- Erowid: Nutmeg Effects & Chemistry
- Erowid: Nutmeg FAQ
- Erowid: Nutmeg Vault
- El-Alfy et al. 2019: Phenolic compounds from nutmeg inhibit FAAH
- El-Alfy et al. 2016: Indirect modulation of endocannabinoid system by nutmeg
- Healthline: High on Nutmeg - Effects and Dangers
- IsomerDesign: Myristicin Drug Status Report
- NCATS: Myristicin Drug Profile
- Project CBD: Chemicals in Nutmeg Boost Anandamide
- PsychonautWiki: Myristicin
- PubChem: Myristicin Compound Summary
- Wikipedia: Myristicin
- Wikipedia: Myristica fragrans
- DrugWise: Nutmeg
Additional references
- Erowid Nutmeg Vault: Basics (onset, duration, problems, MAOI warning)
- Erowid Nutmeg: Effects #1 (composition notes; safrole hepatotoxic mention; dose ranges)
- Erowid: Analysis of 176 reports with dose guidance and adverse events at high doses
- NCBI Bookshelf: NTP Technical Report 95 on Myristicin Toxicity (Discussion/Introduction – symptoms, exposure, uncertainty about specific role, related alkenylbenzene risks)
- NCBI Bookshelf: NTP Technical Report 95 (Discussion – human symptoms with overdose and related rodent data)
- LactMed (NCBI Bookshelf): Nutmeg – advises avoiding amounts above flavoring doses in breastfeeding; anticholinergic symptoms at high doses
- DrugWise: Nutmeg overview (psychoactive constituents; general public health framing)