Compound Monograph
Malabaricone C
Malabaricone C is a diarylnonanoid of nutmeg seed, identified alongside malabaricone B as one of the principal antioxidant and α-glucosidase-inhibiting molecules of the seed extract.
Sources · 1
Where Does It Come From?
Malabaricone C is a naturally occurring diarylnonanoid (acylphenol), found in Nutmeg. Its toxicity is not yet characterized.
Concentration
Content by Source
Concentrations not reported. No percent-dry-weight or mg/g figures have been published for this compound in its source plants.
Research & Evidence
Malabaricone C is a diarylnonanoid — an acylphenol built on a nine-carbon chain linking two aromatic rings — reported from the seed of nutmeg (Myristica fragrans). In a solvent-fractionation study of nutmeg seed it was identified, together with malabaricone B, as one of the principal molecules behind the extract’s antioxidant activity, and the same work assessed the seed’s inhibition of the carbohydrate-digesting enzyme α-glucosidase 1Reference 1Evaluation of antioxidant and anti-α-glucosidase activities of various solvent extracts and major bioactive components from the seeds of Myristica fragransView study →.
It belongs to the part of nutmeg’s chemistry that is easy to overlook. The herb’s reputation rests on myristicin — which is more a toxicological than a therapeutic principle — while essentially all of the therapeutic preclinical activity attributed to the seed traces to its lignan and neolignan fraction, of which this molecule is one. Its close relatives on that side of the chemistry are macelignan, dehydrodiisoeugenol and the mace neolignan licarin A.
Toxicity & Safety
No isolated-compound toxicity data were located. Nothing here has been tested in humans, and the concentrations used in the antioxidant and enzyme-inhibition work are laboratory concentrations rather than anything achievable from culinary nutmeg.
References
- Li, Chu, Huang, et al. (2020). Evaluation of antioxidant and anti-α-glucosidase activities of various solvent extracts and major bioactive components from the seeds of Myristica fragrans. Molecules. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25215198
