Yeah, it’s a well known fact that spices in general stimulate the appetite, stimulate digestion, etc. This is one reason people like spices in their food.

Elemicin, being oil, is similar to kavalactones. If you’ve ever used kavalactones, or just kava, you know that mixing it in whole milk works better that taking just the kavalactones. These oils are not easy to digest. We are so water based. I think what happens is, if taken on their own, they just sort of stick to the sides of your stomach and don’t get digested fast enough for good effects. They need something to help push them through the digestive system.

As for elemicin, it might actually do better if taken with an MAOI. I don’t know much about the metabolism of elemicin. It might somehow be effected negatively by MAO.