Too much too much

Michael Greger, M.D. says that nutmeg, the popular spice, is unsafe. It "appears to have a relatively narrow margin of safety," as he says.

Everyone loves nutmeg on certain foods. It adds a lot to applesauce and apple pie and egg nog. It comes from the ground-up seed of the Myristica fragrans tree, which is an evergreen with dark leaves.  You don't have one in your yard, unless you're reading this from your home in the Spice Islands of Indonesia.

Dr Greger, a vegan and an expert on health matters, says he came across "a peculiar paper entitled “Christmas Gingerbread and Christmas Cheer: Review of the Potential Role of Mood Elevating Amphetamine-like Compounds” in which it is suggested that there is something in nutmeg that may form amphetamine compounds after we consume them, to such a degree that they elevate our moods.

Maybe THAT'S why we love our eggnog so much!

Dr Greger reports that way back in the 1960s there was an article in the New England Journal of Medicine in an article called “Nutmeg Intoxication," discussing the possibility that psychopharmacological effects of consuming too much eggnog have been talked about for a long time. And, as far back as the 1500s, people used nutmeg as an abortifacient (a drug given to cause a miscarriage).

I don't know if people still use it for this purpose. Dr Greger also says that people from the 60s were discussing whether nutmeg was a safe alternative to heroin!

But he also points out that turmeric (that yellow curry spice that's as popular as those silly vaping devices all of a sudden) can be harmful if overused. Same with too much tea, or soy, or raw cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, etc).

Long before egg nog was even created for the first blessed time, a Greek poet named Hesiod said,"observe due measure; moderation is best in all things."
He said this around 700 B.C.

That was 2,718 years ago, and we still go nuts for fried chicken sandwiches.