by Paul Fassa
Health Impact News

Black cumin seed from the Nigella Sativa plant is an ancient seed that offers modern health benefits. There is a saying about black cumin seed:

“It remedies everything but death,”

which points to its many medicinal applications. It is also known as Roman coriander, black caraway, or simply black seed.

Many consider the seeds of the Nigella Sativa plant, or black cumin seeds, as a remedy for many modern day maladies and diseases, including even cancer. It serves many as an all around immune booster. Anecdotal testimonies and reports have been confirmed by hundreds of black cumin seed studies.

Recent Study Provides Information on Black Cumin Seed’s Neuropsychiatric Benefits

A recently studied virtue of black cumin oil is its positive effects on neurological and psychiatric systems. A meta-study of several studies analyzing black cumin for several neurological applications includes “… the pharmacological actions and the therapeutic potential pertaining to the central nervous system, particularly effects on psychiatric and neurological dysfunctions, …”

The meta study, Neuropsychiatric Effects of Nigella sativa (Black Seed) A Review was published in the journal Alternative and Integrative Medicine. It reviews in detail studies from international sources where researchers have observed positive results from black cumin seed.

The researchers reviewed articles published on studies about the effects of Nigella Sativa, its oil and active components, on various clinical conditions concerning the central nervous system. Abstracts and full articles in English were examined in preparation for their review.

They made an effort to include all available information in the literature pertaining to neurological and psychiatric effects of Nigella Sativa, but they found it impossible to include everything. What they did was categorize the neurological and neuropsychiatric issues addressed positively, and provide extensive detailed summaries of the black cumin findings in each category.

The black cumin seed positive-effect pharmacological categories are:

• Anti-convulsant effects from epilepsy
• Anti-Parkinson’s effects
• Neuroprotective effects
• Anti-depressant effects
• Anti-anxiety effects
• Effects on improving learning and memory
• Effects on drug tolerance and drug dependence
• Effects on encephalitis,  toxoplasmosis and malaria, which both affect the brain

From the study’s conclusion:

In many animal experiments and a few clinical trials it [black cumin seed or oil] was found to be effective in the control of pain, fever, epilepsy, Parkinsonism, anxiety, depression, toxoplasmosis, malaria and to improve memory, mood and feeling of good health. Further basic and clinical investigations are needed to confirm these observations.

You can access the full study text here.

Whole Plant Better than Patented Pharmaceuticals

The intent expressed in this meta-analysis review is to further research into isolating cumin seeds’ active ingredients for the exploration of creating effective pharmaceuticals for neurological disorders.

That would benefit the pharmaceutical industry’s efforts to capitalize on the sickness-industry by synthetically creating those active ingredient molecules without the rest of the compounds found in Nigella Sativa that modulate the effects of its active ingredients in a balanced synergistic symphony of healing, without side effects.

Isolating and recreating active ingredients of plant medicines has been disastrous for patients, but it fits Big Pharma’s business model of repeat business from the side effects and failed cures.

As Sayer Ji mentioned in an earlier article:

The greatest difference, of course, between a seed and a patented synthetic chemical (i.e. pharmaceutical drug), is that Nature (God) made the former, and men with profit-motives and a deranged understanding of the nature of the body made the latter. (Source)

Black Cumin Seed Oil Consumption Handles Many Health Conditions

In addition to thymoquinone, black cumin seed oil contains crystalline nigellone, beta sitosterol, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, palmitoleic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, arachidonic acid. It also contains vitamins B1, B2,B3, folate, phospherous, iron, copper, zinc, and calcium.

Black cumin oil contains from one-third to one-half of what some call the magical component, thymoquinone. It is so concentrated that one teaspoon is sufficient for a dose. It’s recommended that one take two doses per day for therapeutic purposes, but not to exceed three teaspoons daily for very severe ailments.

Black cumin seed oil serves many medicinal purposes efficiently, and it is very accessible from online sources. Your black cumin or black oil choice should be pure, cold pressed, and 100 percent from the seeds of the black nigella plants. Studies have confirmed that it regulates the immune system.

Consider taking low doses frequently if you are not suffering from a particular ailment, as a tonic for preventing infectious disease and dampening over-stimulation of the immune system that leads to autoimmune diseases. (Source)

You could compare this oil to cannabis oil in its concentration of the medicinally active compounds compared to the raw plant or failing synthetic versions of its active biochemical compounds. Also, black cumin oil is legal everywhere and cheaper than cannabis oil.

From chiopracticmaui.com:

“There are well over 40 health conditions that may be benefited from the use of the herb, [not a pharmaceutical copycat attempt] including over 20 distinct pharmacological actions it [black cumin seed] expresses, such as:”

• Analgesic (Pain-Killing)
• Anti-Bacterial
• Anti-Inflammatory
• Anti-Ulcer
• Anti-Cholinergic
• Anti-Fungal
• Anti-Hypertensive
• Anti-oxidant
• Anti-spasmodic
• Anti-viral
• Bronchodilator
• Gluconeogenesis Inhibitor (Anti-Diabetic)
• Hepatoprotective (Liver-Protecting)
• Hypotensive
• Insulin Sensitizing
• Interferon Inducer
• Leukotriene Antagonist
• Renoprotective (Kidney-Protecting)
• Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha Inhibitor (Source)

Black Seed Cumin Effects on Cancer

In addition to so many anecdotal testimonies, there are many black cumin seed peer reviewed studies confirming effectiveness against cancer from consuming Nigella Sativa. The anecdotal healing stories cover several ailments cured or improved, and many of them have been confirmed in the laboratory in vitro (lab cultures) and in vivo (animal and human studies).

There have been several studies over the past 50 plus years observing one of black cumin’s main active ingredients, thymoquinone, with proven cancer fighting properties in lab cultures (in vitro) and animals (in vivo). As mentioned, a good black cumin seed oil can contain up to 50 percent per volume thymoquinone along with all the rest of Nigella Sativa’s beneficial whole plant compounds.

During that 50 plus years, it was conclusively determined that thymoquinone modulates nine of cancer’s ten characteristics. Yet not a single Phase I human tumor study has been performed with black cumin’s active ingredients as of 2014, according to this Source.

This could be considered lamentable. As the studies have shown, thymoquinone would be a perfect adjunct to chemotherapy drugs, while concurrently ameliorating chemo’s toxic affects.

Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical industry constantly works on creating more synthetic toxic drugs in the “War on Cancer” instead of allowing oncologists to seriously consider natural cancer fighters like black cumin seed oil.

Thymoquinone extracts of black cumin have even demonstrated efficacy on the most lethal and untreatable (by standard oncology methods) form of cancer – pancreatic cancer.

A meta-analysis study review titled, Anticancer Activities of Nigella Sativa (Black Cumin) analyzes several studies that had covered many types of cancer. It’s a concise overview of many peer reviewed published studies of black cumin’s positive effects on cancer. You can access the full study here.

You can take away this basic piece of common sense wisdom:

“Let the boys in the labs play with their chemistry sets to get more funding from the pharmaceutical industry all they want, we already have access to the whole plants’ concentrated oil to use as we wish and/or need.”