This product is the mature seed kernel of the tall arbor plant Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt.) from the Nutmeg family. It is mainly produced in Malaysia and Indonesia; it is also cultivated in Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan in mainland China. The fruit is harvested when it matures in winter and spring. After removing the shell, it is dried and then roasted to remove the oil for use.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Acrid, warm. Act on spleen, stomach and large intestine meridians.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Astringing intestines and checking diarrhea, warming the middle moving qi.

bubble_chart Indications

1. Used for spleen and kidney deficiency with cold and chronic diarrhea. Nutmeg is pungent, warm, and astringent, capable of astringing the intestines and checking diarrhea, as well as warming the middle and warming the spleen. It is used to treat deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach, and chronic diarrhea that does not stop. It is often used with Cassia Bark, Tangshen, White Atractylodes Rhizome, Chebula Fruit, etc., to warm the middle, strengthen the spleen, astringe the intestines, and check diarrhea. For spleen and stomach yang deficiency with diarrhea before dawn, it can be used with Psoralea, Schisandra Fruit, Evodia Fruit, such as in Four Miracle Pill.
2. Used for stomach cold with distending pain, poor appetite, and vomiting. This product is pungent, fragrant, warm, and dry, with the effects of warming the middle, moving qi, and relieving pain. It can be used for stomach cold qi stagnation, epigastric and abdominal distension and fullness with pain, poor appetite, and vomiting. It is often used with Aucklandia Root, Dried Ginger, Pinellia, etc.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Yaoxing Lun: "Can treat infantile vomiting and promote lactation, abdominal pain; treats retained food and unresolved phlegm-fluid retention."
2. 《Materia Medica Compendium》: "Warms the spleen and stomach, consolidates the large intestine."
3. Bencao Jingshu: "Nutmeg's pungent flavor can disperse and resolve, its warm nature can harmonize and unblock, its fragrance first enters the spleen, which governs digestion, being warm and pungent, it thus opens the stomach, as the stomach favors warmth."

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

Decoct and take 8-9g; for pills or powder, take 0.5-1g each time. For internal use, it must be roasted to remove oil.

bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

Dampness-heat diarrhea and dysentery patients should avoid use.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

Nutmeg contains 5% to 15% volatile oil, as well as nutmeg ether, clove phenol, isoclove phenol, and various terpene compounds. The volatile oil in nutmeg has aromatic stomachic and carminative effects, and possesses significant anesthetic properties. The ether in whitefruit amomim fruit has hallucinogenic effects on normal human bodies. Its terpene components have antibacterial properties.