Blackstrap Molasses
Health Benefits

Blackstrap Molasses - Editor's Choice

| Modified on Jun 09, 2025
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Blackstrap Molasses.

Blackstrap molasses is a thick, nutrient-dense syrup derived from the third boiling of sugar cane juice. Unlike refined sugar, it retains many essential minerals, making it a powerful, time-tested natural remedy. Earth Clinic readers have reported its benefits for a wide range of health issues, from anemia and arthritis to menstrual pain and heart palpitations.

What is Blackstrap Molasses?

During sugar refining, sugar cane juice is boiled three times. The first boiling produces cane syrup, the second yields standard molasses, and the third results in blackstrap molasses. This final product contains less sugar but is concentrated with minerals such as iron, magnesium, potassium, calcium, and B vitamins.

Historical Uses of Blackstrap Molasses

For centuries, blackstrap molasses has been used not just as a food product but as a healing remedy, animal feed, and agricultural enhancer. Its use dates back over 500 years.

  • Colonial Era: Used in baked goods, beer-making, and especially rum production.
  • Traditional Medicine: Praised for treating anemia, malnutrition, and menstrual issues.
  • Cancer Prevention: One study noted lower cancer rates among sugar cane workers who consumed raw molasses-rich sugar regularly. (Source)
  • Animal Feed & Agriculture: Boosts feed palatability and nutrition for livestock.
  • Industrial Uses: Ethanol, citric acid, and cosmetic production.

Top Health Benefits of Blackstrap Molasses

Blackstrap molasses offers a wide range of health benefits due to its nutrient profile. Some benefits are immediate (like relief from leg cramps), while others require consistent use (such as improving iron levels).

Anemia & Energy Boost

Dosage: 1 tablespoon daily with a source of vitamin C to improve iron absorption.

  • High in iron, it helps produce red blood cells and reduces fatigue and weakness.

Cardiovascular Health

Dosage: 1 teaspoon–1 tablespoon daily for adults.

  • Rich in potassium and magnesium, which support healthy heart rhythm and blood pressure.

Fibroids & Menstrual Pain

Dosage: 1 tablespoon twice daily, especially during menstruation.

  • Iron replenishes lost blood; magnesium relaxes uterine muscles and eases cramps.

Arthritis & Joint Health

Dosage: 1 tablespoon daily.

  • Calcium and magnesium support joint health and reduce inflammation.

Hair Health & Graying

Dosage: 1 tablespoon daily (results may take several weeks).

  • Some users report improvement in premature graying due to its copper content.

Digestive Support

Dosage: 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon as needed.

  • Acts as a gentle laxative and soothes constipation.

Hot Flashes & Hormonal Support

Dosage: 1 tablespoon twice daily.

  • Rich in B6 and magnesium, which support hormonal balance and reduce menopausal symptoms.

Nerve Health

Dosage: 1 tablespoon daily.

  • B vitamins and magnesium may help with carpal tunnel, restless leg syndrome, and muscle cramps.

Nosebleeds

Dosage: 1 teaspoon daily.

  • Iron helps support healthy blood clotting and strengthens blood vessels.

Nutrient Composition of Blackstrap Molasses

Per tablespoon (varies by brand):

  • Iron: ~20% RDA
  • Calcium: ~17% RDA
  • Magnesium: ~12% RDA
  • Potassium: ~10% RDA
  • Vitamin B6, Thiamine, Niacin
  • Copper, Selenium, Zinc

Recommended Daily Dosage

  • General health: 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon daily
  • Anemia: 1 tablespoon twice daily with vitamin C-rich food or drink
  • Children: Start with 1/2 teaspoon and increase gradually

Ways to Incorporate Blackstrap Molasses into Your Diet

  • Add to smoothies, coffee, or tea
  • Blend into warm water or nut milk
  • Use in oatmeal, baked goods, or salad dressings

Molasses Iced Latte

  • 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
  • 3/4 cup milk or plant milk
  • Hot water to dissolve molasses + ice

Banana Molasses Smoothie

  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
  • 1 cup milk or kefir
  • 1 tablespoon chia seeds
  • Optional: 1/2 tablespoon cacao powder

Side Effects & Precautions

  • Digestive upset: Large doses may cause diarrhea or loose stools.
  • Blood sugar concerns: Contains natural sugars; monitor glucose if diabetic.
  • Iron overload: Not advised for those with hemochromatosis or iron-loading conditions.
  • Drug interactions: May interfere with diabetes meds, anticoagulants, and certain antidepressants.

Conclusion

Blackstrap molasses is more than just a sweetener—it's a mineral powerhouse with a long history of healing use. Whether you're managing anemia, arthritis, fibroids, hot flashes, or digestive issues, this natural remedy offers a safe and affordable solution for many. As with any supplement, consult your healthcare provider before starting if you have underlying health conditions or are on medication.

Continue reading below to explore real-world experiences from Earth Clinic readers using blackstrap molasses for their health. Have you tried it? Share your story with us!

Related Links:

Best Natural Remedies for Anemia: Boost Iron & Red Blood Cells
Blackstrap Molasses for Diabetes Type II Treatment
Blackstrap Molasses for Heavy Menstrual Bleeding
Blackstrap Molasses for Mentrual Issues
Blackstrap Molasses Recipes
Blackstrap Molasses Side Effects
Effective Natural Arthritis Remedies: Relief & Healing
Managing Heart Palpitations Naturally: Tips and Remedies
Top Natural Remedies for Fibroids


The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.

Circulation

Posted by Debra (Sydney/Australia) on 11/19/2020 63 posts
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

I know this thread is old but got bought to my attention through an email. I wanted to share an experience I had with BSM.

My father in law had a hip operation a few years ago and during the op, the orderly grabbed his leg so hard, he caused a permanent blood clot which resulted in severe pain and lack of circulation to his foot. It took months but they managed to make a pathway through the clot for blood to get through but told him the clot was always going to be there. I researched it for him and learnt that BSM dissolves clots so I told him to take a tablespoon a day. Four bottles later, the clot was completely gone. he still has pain in the foot due to nerve damage, the he has complete blood flow and no clot whatsoever now.


Menstrual Issues

Posted by Marianne (Fairfield, Ct) on 10/22/2016
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

I have suffered from extreme heavy periods which seemed to be caused by my large fibroids I've developed in my 40's. I started to lose so much blood with clots that I could not sleep during the night because my pad and tampon would soak through and stain the bedsheets nor I would make it to work with my long commute. My periods were painful and lasted for 10 days. I was so desperate that I started to take birth control pills which helped indeed but came along with side effects such as weight gain and heart palpations. I stopped taking the pills after 18 months and looked for a natural cure. I came across organic unsulphured Blackstrap Molasses on Earth Clinic and started to take 1 Tablespoon dissolved in water topped with a bit of milk during my cycle only. I've experienced immediate results, the period was still heavy but lasted only for 5 days. Ever since, I have been taking 1 Tablespoon every morning and my periods are now normal lasting for 5 days with only one day of a heavier flow and manageable - no more accidents or stains! Moreover, I have more energy thanks to Earth clinic and Blackstrap Molasses. It changed my life.


Molasses Recipes

Posted by Raw Inspirations (Wellesley, Ma) on 06/08/2016

Editor's Choice

Here is absolutely the easiest and quickest plus most delicious recipe using BSM:

BSM Fudge

(this recipe makes approximately 4 squares)

mix together all the following into a small glass container

  • 2 T organic Virgin Coconut Oil in liquid form (if solid, place jar in a lot of warm water)
  • 2 T Organic BSM
  • 2 T organic raw almond butter
  • 2 T organic raw walnuts
  • few drops or organic vanilla extract
  • 3 pinches pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon
  • 1 pinch sea salt
  • 2-4 T organic cacao powder (start with 2).

Stir well and keep adding cacao powder until mixture is a thick smooth consistency. Refrigerate at least one hour and cut into squares.


Broad Benefits

Posted by Lenora (Gary, In) on 08/11/2015
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

I started taking blackstrap molasses around March 2013. I took it to help with the pain and discomfort of the fibroids I had. Because of the discomfort of eating certain foods, I had been taking Zantac for a few years to ease the discomfort. I realized after a few weeks of taking the molasses, that I had not been taking any gas pills. I can now eat spicy foods, drink milk, and EAT ICE CREAM! Amazing!

The blackstrap molasses is doing way more than why I started taking it. It is suggested to take it first thing in the morning. I take 3 table spoons a day - 2 in the morning and 1 before bed.

I went to the doctor May 2014 for a return PAP and the fibroids shrunk, she could barely feel them. I don't know how fast the syrup shrunk them. I didn't go to the doctor til a year later but I stop feeling the discomfort maybe about 6 months later.

So I've been sharing this info with as many people as I can. My husband takes for his stomach (gas). My mom was taking it for acid reflux and felt better. By best friend took it and it built her iron. One of the sisters at church, who's on dialysis, took it and it helped with diarrhea - she would have 3 - 5 times a week and since she's been taking it, she hasn't had that problem. Another friend has throat cancer and you can now hear him talk clearly.

Try it, what do you have to lose?


Skin

Posted by Linda (Long Beach, Ca) on 10/31/2014
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

After 4 tries with Western Medicine for my chronic skin issues, no one could even give it a name. It was debilitating. I then went to see a holistic Dr. One of her prescriptions was to drink a cup of tea a day with a tablespoon of Black Strap Molasses, a tablespoon of Bragg unfiltered apple cider vinegar (with the mother) and a float of cinnamon on top. Unprocessed honey can also be added. Drink through the honey.

In desperation I committed to this. It has been a year and a half now and much has changed. Clear skin...not an itch or lesion etc. My face is rosy and clear. My hair on my head (no other place) has become thick and silky...and I'm 63. (HaHa) Energy, yes. Sense of well being, yes. Most of all MOST everyone of whom I'm in contact make comments and ask me question.

Soooo, that's my testimony. I will drink this concoction until I go to Heaven!


Sleep Issues

Posted by Broadbelle (Raleigh, Nc) on 02/22/2013
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

I started taking Blackstrap molasses about two months ago to alleviate some issues I have had having now for years around restless legs and other sleep problems. Since taking it at bedtime (about two teaspoons) I have slept like a baby every single night. I do not toss and turn. I do not wake up and not be able to go back to sleep. I sleep soundly and peacefully through the night. I have no more restless legs or other sleep problems. Regardless of what is keeping you from sleeping - I highly recommend this non-medical approach to getting good sleep! And good sleep in turn results in better health all the way around!


Fibroids

Posted by Tina (Barcelona, Spain) on 06/14/2009
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

Thank you all for posting this news about unsulphured BSM. I've had fibroids growing inside me for over ten years, and now they are of multiple kinds too. My womb has grown to about 14 cm, which I was told by my gynecologist a week ago is the size of a 12-week pregnancy. My periods had turned into debilitating 2-day avalanches filled with large clots, followed by about 3 days of mostly whitish stuff. I wake up in the morning sometimes with a large bulge on my stomach, a result of a full bladder being pressed out by an enlarged womb. Seeing as I am 39 and still want to have a baby, a fertility doctor told me I should have a myomectomy right away. That is a very invasive surgery, and I will avoid it at all costs. A previous ob-gyn for years only told me we "would keep monitoring" the fibroids and never gave me any info on treating them with anything. Meanwhile the fibroids kept growing. "Let me know if/when you periods get heavy." They eventually did, I told her, and the answer was "we'll keep monitoring them." Not one doctor I've been to has made any connections between iron-deficiency and fibroids (or perhaps the potassium too has a role to play) or between fibers & carotenoids (found in beets and carrots) and fibroids (look this up online). What do these people go to med school for?

Anyway, I was at once very skeptical and very hopeful when I read the major positive claims made on this site about UBSM, but I opt for natural remedies & solutions whenever possible. This was about 3 months ago now. To my great surprise and even greater joy, the results were immediate and excellent. I bought a bottle of unsulphured BSM at a health store (20% DV of iron, 15% of calcium, 10% of magnesium, 500 mg of potassium) on February 20, ONE day before my period. I have been taking 2 table spoons a day since then (though I confess some days I've forgotten the second spoon). Instead of the 2-day giant-clot-ridden horror of the previous year or so, I had a largely regular, 5-day period, with only a couple of very small clots. I felt less pain and had more energy. I was in utter disbelief at this very immediate result. I kept taking it to see if the same thing would happen the following month, and the answer is yes! Wow--thank god for mother nature and the people who know how it can benefit us--you all who have shared this wonderful remedy with me and many other women suffering from this problem--a painful problem that affects our work productivity as well as our fertility. (I feel I'm doing a commercial for this thing... that's what I felt about the other people who posted here when I first found this site, skeptical and cynical that I am... :-) )

Another apparent result, which I am in the midst of experiencing, is the return of my regular 28-day cycle. Recently, before the UBSM, my periods had started shrinking to 26 days. I am two days late, though there are signs of imminent arrival :-) and no, I am not pregnant, unless the Holy Ghost has paid a visit.

My greatest hope of course is that the fibroids will also shrink, as some people here and in other sites have claimed has happened to them after they started taking UBSM. I will report back when I have my next ultrasound, or perhaps an MRI, which I read elsewhere are more accurate. I will also start loading up on those beets and carrots, both of which I love anyway.

Incidentally, for those who ask how to take the molasses and complained about the taste: honestly, if you have a problem like this, you will take it straight in a spoon and say you loved it a thousand times. In any event, this is a sweet liquid--not your usual sweet, but rather a powerfully bittersweet taste, the kind our grandmothers, who probably didn't have fibroids, were used to. You can use it in your coffee, tea, and spread on toast (my three usual ways). You can put it on fruit as a dessert. You can put it in a smoothie. Think of it as your sugar from now on--that is, if you want to regulate your periods (and possibly, hopefully, all fingers crossed, shrink your fibroids). I wouldn't recommend the one spoon in a glass of water thing, especially if you don't like the taste of it--why prolong it? Sometimes I drink some water *after* taking my spoonful--that way you wash off the taste quickly. I do like the taste, actually, but of course anything you have every single day can get old quickly.

As for the elimination of gray hair that some people claim also results from regular consumption of UBSM, I don't know if I am imagining things, but I have the impression it is helping with that too, though of course it is too soon to tell for sure. It is definitely not my main goal or concern, but I certainly won't mind it if it is indeed a side-effect!

I hope to report good news on the fibroids in due course. THANK YOU ALL again for posting this information--I wish I had looked up natural cures for fibroids sooner! Good luck to everyone.


Anemia

Posted by Satina (Waldport, Oregon) on 10/31/2008
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

Regarding any warnings on Earth Clinic about molasses for anemia, I think it's important to remember that iron occuring in natural foods like molasses is balanced by all kinds of other minerals and trace minerals and so has a different effect on the body than a synthesized, inferior source of isolated iron in a pill. All of the minerals work synergistically in the body, buffering and enhancing one another.

In natural foods, you find them all together for a reason. We need them all, in order for any one of them to do their best for us. In addition, trace minerals in molasses such as, specifically, chromium, are essential to our body's metabolism of sugar, so consuming molasses is going to have nowhere near the negative effects on your body as consuming sugar *without* the trace minerals that are absolutely essential for its use by the body (as is the case in white, refined sugar).

Also, when one has a complaint about 'processed foods', it is because what is good for us, the nutrients, have been stripped away from the so-called 'refined' food left behind. In this case, molasses IS what has been stripped away (leaving the worthless refined white sugar behind), so molasses is of the highest nutrient-density. As a student in an M.S. program of study in Holistic Nutrition, I believe natural sources of minerals like molasses are *infinitely* superior to any synthesized supplements and should be encouraged, never discouraged.

Oh, and I like to put a tablespoon or two of blackstrap molasses in heated milk (or nut milk) as a mineral-rich, medicinal alternative to hot chocolate. :-)


Arthritic Pain

Posted by Joyce (Chippewa Lake, Ohio) on 05/22/2008
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

I saw one comment from someone on blackstrap molasses for arthritis. I had been up every night in pain, particularly in one knee. The first day I ate 1 Tbs. of blackstrap molasses, and the pain was completely gone. I take it every day. If I go to bed and have a little pain in my knee, instead of pain medicine, I have another Tbs. of the molasses, and the pain subsides in 20 minutes. My uncle was a chiropractor who was into holistic medicine, and use to tell us that there are many benefits of Blackstrap molasses.