Medicinal Food "Variety is the spice of Life" "Let food be thy medicine" "You are what you eat" Lately I've been getting back into enjoying more diverse food, trying to utilise more diverse spices and plants (Moringa, Brahmi, Ashwagandha) etc to a more balanced diet Food as medicine seems to be a powerful approach, where instead of relying on a single plant, diversity of phytochemical constituents can provide a healing symphony that not only tackles nutritional needs but also seems to nourish holistically towards health I've covered many spices like turmeric, galangal etc but how many other normally considered culinary spices have healing properties? Black mustard seeds contains glucosinolates yielding allyl isothiocyante which, along with anti-inflammatory activity, increased levels of plasticity markers, as well as an antioxidant gene regulator, Nrf2, similarly to broccoli's sulforaphane [1, 2] It's an interesting one: "added to cooked broccoli, the bioavailability of sulforaphane is over four times greater than that from broccoli ingested alone" and it's of potential use added to sprouts. I'm trying to sprout some... Coriander seed is well-known for its CNS effects and has been used in folk medicines for treatment of anxiety and insomnia. It exhibits a wide range of CNS-related activities including neuroprotective, anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, analgesic and migraine relieving activities [3] Cumin, containing terpenes, phenolics/flavonoids, has anti-stress, antioxidant, and memory- enhancing activities [4] alongside other beneficial activities [5] Ginger exhibited the significant beneficial effects on the CNS [6] with neuroprotective, anti- 1 inflammatory, immunomodulatory and anti-oxidative characteristics [7] Fenugreek has antidiabetic and neuroprotective effects [8] improved learning and memory processes [9], showed significant anti-anxiety effects [10] and antidepressant effects [11] Black pepper contains piperine and is a potential functional food to improve brain function [12], has been reported to have antidepressant-like effects through BDNF [13] anxiolytic/anticonvulsant activity [14] and pro-cognitive effects [15] Cinnamon's polyphenols and cinnamaldehyde have beneficial effects on the brain, also improving learning and memory [16] Clove's essential oil has antidepressant properties [17] and is a rich source of neuroprotective polyphenols and constituents like maslinic acid which shows anti-psychotic activity [18] Cardamon had antidiabetic, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties [19] along with anti-anxiety properties [20] Fennel has been proposed to be useful for the treatment of cognitive disorders [21] Clove It's unfortunate that such a rich source of polyphenols with essential oils has little human data on it's cognitive benefits vs other polyphenol-rich plants In traditional medicinal formulations, clove is used as nervous stimulant and cognitive enhancer. Clove was the spice presenting very high antioxidant activity and polyphenol content with proposed use in the treatment of memory deficits [22]. Cloves administered orally reduced significantly the brain cholinesterase activity, being capable of improving learning and memory processes [23] and the polyphenols can alleviate alterations in inflammation and oxidative stress markers in humans [24] along with maintaining healthy glucose metabolism with benefits to liver function and redox status [25]. The essential oil has effects on neurotrophins with antidepressant effects [26] It has some traditional usage as an aphrodisiac which is preliminarily confirmed in animal models [27]. Nutmeg Studies have also shown that nutmeg may act as a CNS stimulant, psychotropic, aphrodisiac and anti-inflammatory agent. It showed a significant antidepressant-like effect in mice and administration for 3 successive days significantly improved learning and memory of young and aged mice [28] The volatile oil (ca. 10% of seed content) consists of terpene derivatives, such as camphene and pinene, and phenylpropanoids, mainly myristicin, elemicin, and safrole. Other nonvolatile secondary metabolites include diarylpropanoids (lignans), diarylalkanes (resorcinols), proanthocyanidins and catechins 2 It is not devoid of toxicity and high doses comes with the risk of death, respiratory depression, hallucination, drowsiness, tremor, tachycardia and urinary retention etc [29] It interacts with the endocannabinoid system via inhibition of the endocannabinoid catabolising enzymes [30] and macelignan potently and effectively inhibited AChE [31 ] while nutmeg toxicity seems to be associated with an anticholinergic-like profile. It is assumed the lignans can cross the BBB [32] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30406889 [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27043505 [3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29433220 [4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21639683 [5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26010662 [6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30084567 [7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30243185 [8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22373803 [9] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29681009 [10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27639708 [11] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25176235 [12] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18639606 [13] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29063362 [14] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25149996 [15] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25149996 [16] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29258915 [17] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25590367 [18] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28899728 [19] https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/.../S1043-4666(18)30405-8 [20] https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/.../S0753-3322(16)31555-4 [21] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17004908 3 [22] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3819475/ [23] http://europepmc.org/articles/pmc4078338 [24] https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/jmf.2017.4177 [25] https://bmccomplementalternmed.biomedcentral.com/.../s129 ... [26] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25590367 [27] https://examine.com/supplements/syzygium-aromaticum/ ... [28] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15298762 [29] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4057546/ [30] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27296774 [31] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31200287 [32] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6274353/ 4