Nigella Sativa or Black Seed: A Proven Natural Remedy for Many Illnesses
Nigella sativa, also known as black seed, is a herb that has been used as medicine for hundreds of years by communities worldwide. Its benefits are well-known and documented in various cultures and medical traditions.
Prof. Dr Mustafa Ali Mohd
Historical Benefits
- In Islamic literature, Nigella sativa is recognized as one of the greatest forms of therapeutics. As early as Avicenna’s “Canon of Medicine,” Nigella sativa seeds were mentioned as able to reduce weakness and depression, and improve the body’s vitality.
- Nigella sativa was included in various natural medication lists, including Tibb-e-Nabavi (The Medication of Prophet Mohammad).
Global Usage
Nigella sativa is also used medicinally in various cultures around the world:
Health Benefit
- General Uses: Treats obesity, back pain, hypertension, gastrointestinal issues, bronchitis, asthma, heart diseases, sexual disorders, diarrhea, rheumatoid arthritis, and skin problems. Also used as a liver tonic.
- Active Ingredient: Thymoquinone, which has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immune-boosting, and cholesterol-lowering properties. It helps manage diseases like diabetes, gout, rhinitis, cough, hypertension, and bad breath. It also has antiviral properties and boosts energy by improving mitochondrial function.
Specific Benefits
- Anti-Inflammatory: Reduces swelling and discomfort in conditions like arthritis and asthma. Helps with allergic diseases and chronic skin problems.
- Neurological Health: Thymoquinone repairs damaged neurons and has shown potential in treating conditions like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, autism, and dementia. It also has antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial properties.
- Liver Protection: Protects the liver from injury or toxins.
- Anti-Anxiety: Reduces anxiety by affecting GABA and nitric oxide levels in the brain.
- Antioxidant: Prevents cell damage caused by oxidation.
- Anti-Cancer: Contains ingredients like thymoquinone and alpha-hederin, which are effective against various cancers.
Environmental Protection
- Neurotoxicity: Protects against neurotoxins found in air, water, and food that can harm the brain and nervous system. Studies have shown that Nigella sativa improves neuron health and protects against toxins like amyloid-beta and alpha-synuclein, which are linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Nigella Sativa’s (Blackseed) medicinal value
These diverse applications highlight the global recognition of Nigella Sativa’s medicinal value.
- Nigella sativa has a very strong anti-inflammatory effect. This effect creates significant benefits for various inflamed organs. It can reduce several undesirable effects and discomfort in various diseases. It can also help reduce swelling in arthritis and in respiratory organs such as in asthmatic patients. It has been shown to reduce sneezing and itching in allergic diseases such as sinusitis and rhinitis and chronic skin problems. It contains thymoquinone, which repairs damaged neurons in many neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, autism, and dementia. Thymoquinone has also demonstrated antiviral potential against a number of viruses. It has antifungal and antibacterial properties and is good for certain fungal and bacterial infections. Thymoquinone also increases the activity and number of cytokine suppressors, lymphocytes, natural killer cells, and macrophages.
- Thymoquinone is the main active ingredient of Nigella sativa. It has an amazing number of biological activities with the following properties: antioxidant, hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and anticholesterol. It has been shown to help manage diseases such as diabetes, gout, rhinitis, cough, hypertension, and even bad breath. It has antiviral properties and is also an energy booster through its activation of mitochondrial functions.
- Thymoquinone has shown hepatoprotective effects on laboratory animals. It can protect the liver from injury or toxins. Thymoquinone has also shown an anti-anxiety-like effect in mice through modulation of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and nitric oxide (NO) levels in the brain or plasma. It has very strong antioxidant effects. Antioxidants are a very important group of chemicals that can prevent oxidation and also prevent unnecessary damage to the cells and various organ systems due to the oxidation process. It has also been shown to work as an anticancer agent in many patients with early and terminal stages of cancer. Nigella sativa seeds contain active ingredients like thymoquinone and alpha-hederin, which are effective against different cancers.
Some Scientific Research Findings
Presently, our environment contains a lot of neurotoxins that come in the air, water, and food that we consume daily. Some of these chemicals can cause neurotoxicity, which can harm the brain or peripheral nervous system. These poisons can affect the nervous system and can upset or kill the neurons. They can also increase several undesirable toxins in our brain, such as amyloid β peptide (Aβ) and α-synuclein.
In an in vitro study, El-Naggar et al. found that Nigella sativa significantly improved neuronal cell viability compared to untreated cerebellar neuron cell culture and protected against beta-amyloid protein intoxication (El-Naggar et al., 2010).
Thymoquinone pre-treatment repressed amyloid-beta-induced apoptosis of cultured cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs) via both extrinsic and intrinsic caspase pathways (Ismail et al., 2013). Hence, the findings of these studies recommend that thymoquinone can prevent neurotoxicity and amyloid-beta-induced apoptosis or cell death.
Thymoquinone protected cultured hippocampal and cortical neurons of embryos of Wistar rat brains against neurotoxicity and cytotoxicity induced by Alzheimer’s disease–specific amyloid beta (Alhebshi et al., 2013). Alhebshi et al. also reported the protective effects of thymoquinone against the synaptic toxicity of α-synuclein, which accumulates in the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease and dementia.
All these indicate the extremely versatile effects of Nigella sativa on human health. Consuming Nigella sativa daily will help provide good protection as well as a remedy for currently existing medical conditions for all ages and genders.
This article was written by Prof. Dr. Mustafa Al Mohd, and is base on his research and findings.
