Black cumin oil with seeds
by Paul Fassa
Health Impact News
The Mideast region of Eurasia has known that black cumin seed (Nigella sativa) “remedies all but death” for centuries.
Now it seems that many researchers in that region are doing what they can to demonstrate the science behind this centuries-old medicine’s anecdotal folklore.
Recently published studies have looked at black cumin seed oil for rapidly healing wounds, and protecting against pancreas damage which leads to diabetes.
Black Cumin Seeds for Rapid Wound Healing
A study report published in February 2019 explained recent research on wound healing with diabetic rats using an extract of Nigella sativa or black seed cumin oil. None of the rats were naturally diabetic. Out of the 49 standard lab rats used, three groups of seven were rendered diabetic with a one-time injection of streptozocin.
You may wonder why this study’s researchers bothered to chemically induce healthy lab rats into diabetes to test Nigella sativa’s wound healing properties. It’s because diabetics heal more slowly and worsen more rapidly than those not afflicted. (Source)
Hence, a search to determine what works well for wound healing is an important aspect of post-surgical recovery for everyone, but especially among diabetics.
Surgeries on diabetic patients often lead to complications resulting in “wound infection, amputation, high treatment costs, and even death.” (Source)
The researchers combined the groups of seven according to treatment modalities and diabetic or non-diabetic conditions. From the study abstract:
This experimental study was conducted on 49 male Wistar rats weighing 220–250 g divided into 7 groups of 7 each: control (nondiabetic untreated), sham (nondiabetic *eucerin-treated), nondiabetic **phenytoin (1%)-treated, diabetic untreated, and three diabetic groups treated independently with phenytoin 1%, hydroethanolic N. sativa extracts 20% or 40%. (Source)
*Eucerin is a cosmetic skin product of dubious benefit that was used for the sham group. **Phenytoin is the same pharmaceutical drug for seizures that used topically has demonstrated efficacy with healing wounds.
The result was that the larger dose of the black cumin seed extract at 40 percent healed the inflicted wounds of diabetic rats almost twice as fast as the control group, closely followed by the 20 percent extract used on diabetic rats, leading the researchers to conclude:
N. sativa extract significantly promoted wound healing in diabetic rats in comparison with control groups. Although the beneficial mechanism of the promotion of wound healing was not specifically studied, it is believed that the anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties of N. sativa would contribute to this enhanced wound healing. (Source)
Black Cumin Seed Oil to Protect Against Pancreas Damage Leading to Diabetes
This animal study’s report was also published in February 2019. It was designed to confirm earlier studies showing that virgin olive oil and Nigella sativa (black cumin seed) oil protects the pancreas and preserves the pancreatic Beta cells that produce insulin.
The 24 albino rats were divided into four groups of six. Three of were fed high-fat diets unusual to them to induce hyperlipidemia, excessive blood lipids that can lead to pancreatitis or a damaged pancreas. The group that consumed only normal rat chow was considered the control group.
One of the three groups forced into hyperlipidemia, group two, was not fed either virgin olive oil or black cumin seed oil while group three was fed virgin olive oil and group four was supplemented with black cumin seed powder (N. sativa).
The study noted that earlier studies showed both virgin olive oil and black cumin seed oil demonstrated protection against pancreatic damage and Beta cell integrity. This eight-week study confirmed those studies and more.
This study’s results showed that Nigella sativa was even more protective. From the study’s results section:
Sections from the pancreata of group 4 [N. sativa] … showing that it is nearly similar to control group. The pancreatic acini were markedly improved in shape with no vacuolation. The nuclei and zymogen granules appeared nearly similar to those of control.
The beta-cells appeared with normal density in the central & peripheral regions of the [Langerhans] islet. (Source)
The researchers concluded with this statement:
…. virgin olive oil and Nigella sativa seeds had antihyperlipidemic and hypoglycemic effects and they could protect the pancreas from hyperlipidemia-induced injury and the daily consumption of virgin olive oil and Nigella sativa seeds in the diets is highly recommended. (Source)
Caveat: There are many compromised cheap olive oil products available. Due diligence for the healthy olive oil is required. The easiest way to supplement Nigella sativa is with black cumin seed oil.
Once again, black cumin seed scores highly with handling diabetes-related symptoms. There are many other areas black cumin seed oil can address that are kept secret from the pill-popping consumers who take TV pharmaceutical commercials to heart and run to their doctors demanding the latest drugs on the market.
Black seed cumin oil may handle many areas of health that Big Pharma attempts to handle unsuccessfully and with side effects.
Here are several Health Impact News articles that cover Nigella sativa’s many healing properties.
The Pharmaceutical Industry Can’t Handle Black Cumin Seed
The main active ingredient in black cumin seeds or Nigella sativa is thymoquinone. It can be anywhere from a third to almost half of the content of black cumin seed oil. It stimulates the immune system and expands the lung’s bronchials to help with breathing.
Thymoquinone has anti-tumor, anti-diabetic, anti-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory, and anti-microbial properties. It also reduces histamine levels in the body, protects the liver, and protects the gastrointestinal mucosa from irritating agents.
In the western world, most of the research funding comes from government institutions and Big Pharma with the intent of determining which active ingredients from natural plant life could be recreated synthetically to motivate further research funding toward a profitable, patented pharmaceutical medicine.
Fortunately, researchers from regions familiar with Nigella focus on using the complete plant, not synthetic derivatives. Our Big Pharma-dominated culture is not motivated to research traditional plant medicines as they are naturally. There has to be a financial reward for them to throw money at it.
The point is funding any black cumin seed oil research on our side of the globe is bent on finding a way to synthetically imitate thymoquinone and create a pharmaceutical drug with the potential of becoming a financial “blockbuster drug.”
But black cumin seed oil contains many other vital minerals, vitamins, antioxidant polyphenols, and plant terpenes that interact with the active ingredients to produce a natural synergistic balance without side effects that have proven efficacious for centuries without any external chemical meddling.
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