Black cumin has been a favorite spice among medical
researchers for the past 40 years. There seems to be an endless number of
benefits that black cumin provide, but in this post I am going to focus on
three important health issues that are prevalent in our society.
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By Mountainhills (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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1.Diabetes Mellitus
As many of us are aware, Diabetes is a disease that slowly
kills us. It damages almost every part of our body, especially when the blood
sugar level is poorly controlled.
Black cumin contains a chemical called Thymoquinone. This
"oil" has been extensively studied and have been proven to have many
healing properties, which includes lowering blood glucose level.
A clinical trial by Kaatbi H et al which was done in India
proves that when give 2g of black cumin on daily basis, Type 2 diabetic
patients have reduction in the blood sugar level. This was proven with reduced
fasting blood glucose level (the baseline sugar in our blood) and HBA1C (a
parameter used by doctors to assess diabetic control over 3 months).
"Black cumin is a supplement which helps in blood sugar control"
We are not
sure on how it works, but an important fact to note is that, throughout this
trial, all patients were still on oral medications. That means, black cumin is
only a supplement which helps in blood sugar control, and we can't depend on it
solely.
Another review by Hesmati J echoes the same finding,
suggesting black cumin can be further studied to find the optimal dose ,and
route of ingestion.
2. High cholesterol level
With our high fat containing food, we are seeing many
patients with elevated cholestrol level. Elevated cholestrol in our blood, in
form of LDL can lead to formation of atherosclerosis, or commonly known as
"block" in the arteries of the heart.
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| Image by |Pixabay |
3. Anti- Cancer
Claiming anything is capable of curing cancer is dangerous.
Cancer is unpredictable, it happens due to abnormal DNA, thus anything can
happen in a cancer cell. Even the most amazing chemotherapy might be useful in
one patient and be disappointing in another patient.
Scientiests such as Hammaq Shafiq et al have shown that
Thymoquinone in black cumin oil, has anti-proliferative effect on the breast
cancer cells. It essentially means that black cumin prevents the cancer cells
from growing and dividing thus halting its growth.
But a key finding to note is
that, it had supplementary effect to the chemoagents that are commonly used for
breast cancer treatment.
In conclusion we can see that black cumin seeds are indeed
gift of the nature. So far, only one studied showed us relatively how much
black cumin oil is needed to have some of its positive effect.Many pharmaceutical companies are selling black cumin seed
supplements. But be careful, choose a good brand and make sure it's licensed by
the Malaysian Food Safety agency.
For further reading
Nigella sativa improves glycemic control and ameliorates
oxidative stress in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
2. Effects of black seed (Nigella sativa) on metabolic
parameters in diabetes mellitus: a systematic review.
3. Cardio-protective and anti-cancer therapeutic potential
of Nigella sativa
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