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by Sayer Ji
January 3, 2013
from
GreenMedInfo Website
This humble, but immensely powerful
seed,
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kills
MRSA
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heals the chemical weapon
poisoned body
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stimulates regeneration of the
dying beta cells within the diabetic's pancreas,
...and yet too few even know it exists.
The seeds of the annual flowering plant,
Nigella Sativa, have been prized
for their healing properties since time immemorial.
While frequently referred to among
English-speaking cultures as,
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roman coriander
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black sesame
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black cumin
-
black caraway
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onion seed,
...it is known today primarily as black
seed, which is at the very least an accurate description of its
physical appearance.
The earliest record of its cultivation and use come from ancient
Egypt. Black seed oil, in fact, was found in Egyptian pharaoh
Tutankhamun's tomb, dating back to approximately 3,300 years ago. [i]
In Arabic cultures, black cumin is so
known as Habbatul barakah, meaning the "seed of blessing." It
is also believed that the Islamic prophet Mohammed said of it that
it is "a remedy for all diseases except death."
Many of black cumin's traditionally ascribed health benefits have
been thoroughly confirmed in the biomedical literature. In fact,
since 1964, there have been 458 published, peer-reviewed studies
referencing it.
We have indexed on well over 40 health conditions that may be
benefited from the use of the herb, including over 19 distinct
pharmacological actions it expresses, such as:
-
Analgesic (Pain-Killing)
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Anti-Bacterial
-
Anti-Inflammatory
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Anti-Ulcer
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Anti-Cholinergic
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Anti-Fungal
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Ant-Hypertensive
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Antioxidant
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Antispasmodic
-
Antiviral
-
Bronchodilator
-
Gluconeogenesis Inhibitor
(Anti-Diabetic)
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Hepatoprotective (Liver
Protecting)
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Hypotensive
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Insulin Sensitizing
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Interferon Inducer
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Leukotriene Antagonist
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Renoprotective (Kidney
Protecting)
-
Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha
Inhibitor
These pharmacological actions are only a
subset of a far wider number of beneficial properties intrinsic to
the black seed.
While it is remarkable that this seed
has the ability to positively modulate so many different biological
pathways, this is actually a rather common occurrence among
traditional plant medicines.
Our project has identified over 1600 natural compounds with a wide
range of health benefits, and we are only in our first 5 years of
casual indexing.
There are tens of thousands of other
substances that have already been researched, with hundreds of
thousands of studies supporting their medicinal value (MEDLINE,
whence our study abstracts come, has over 600,000 studies classified
as related to Complementary and Alternative Medicine).
Take
turmeric, for example. We have identified research indicating
its value in over 600 health conditions, while also expressing over
160 different potentially beneficial pharmacological actions. You
can view the quick summary of over 1500 studies we have summarized
on our Turmeric Research page, which includes an explorative video
on turmeric.
Professional database members are
further empowered to manipulate the results according to their
search criteria, i.e. pull up and print to PDF the 61 studies on
turmeric and breast cancer.
This, of course, should help folks
realize how voluminous the supportive literature indicating the
medicinal value of natural substances, such as turmeric and black
seed, really is.
Black seed has been researched for very specific health conditions.
Some of the most compelling applications
include:
-
Type 2 Diabetes
Two grams of black seed a day
resulted in reduced fasting glucose, decreased insulin
resistance, increased beta-cell function, and reduced
glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in human subjects. [ii]
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Helicobacter Pylori Infection
Black seeds possess clinically
useful anti-H. pylori activity, comparable to triple
eradication therapy. [iii]
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Epilepsy
Black seeds were traditionally
known to have anticonvulsive properties. A 2007 study with
epileptic children, whose condition was refractory to
conventional drug treatment, found that a water extract
significantly reduced seizure activity. [iv]
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High Blood pressure
The daily use of 100 and 200 mg
of black seed extract, twice daily, for 2 months, was found
to have a blood pressure-lowering effect in patients with
mild hypertension. [v]
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Asthma
Thymoquinone, one of the main
active constituents within Nigella sativa (black cumin), is
superior to the drug fluticasone in an animal model of
asthma. [vi] Another study, this time in human
subjects, found that boiled water extracts of black seed
have relatively potent antiasthmatic effect on asthmatic
airways. [vii]
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Acute tonsillopharyngitis
Characterized by tonsil or
pharyngeal inflammation (i.e. sore throat), mostly viral in
origin, black seed capsules (in combination with Phyllanthus
niruri) have been found to significantly alleviate throat
pain, and reduce the need for pain-killers, in human
subjects. [viii]
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Chemical Weapons Injury
A randomized, placebo-controlled
human study of chemical weapons injured patients found that
boiled water extracts of black seed reduced respiratory
symptoms, chest wheezing, and pulmonary function test
values, as well as reduced the need for drug treatment. [ix]
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Colon Cancer
Cell studies have found that
black seed extract compares favorably to the chemoagent
5-fluoruracil in the suppression of colon cancer growth, but
with a far higher safety profile. [x] Animal
research has found that black seed oil has significant
inhibitory effects against colon cancer in rats, without
observable side effects. [xi]
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MRSA
Black seed has anti-bacterial
activity against clinical isolates of methicillin resistant
Staphylococcus aureus. [xii]
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Opiate Addiction/Withdrawal
A study on 35 opiate addicts
found black seed as an effective therapy in long-term
treatment of opioid dependence. [xiii]
Sometimes the biblical reference to 'faith the size of a mustard
seed moving mountains' comes to mind in connection with natural
substances like black seeds.
After all, do seeds not contain within
them the very hope for continuance of the entire species that bore
it?
This super-saturated state of the seed,
where life condenses itself down into an intensely miniaturized
holographic fragment of itself, promising the formation of future
worlds within itself, is the very emblem of life's immense and
immortal power.
If we understand the true nature of the seed, how much life (past,
present and future) is contained within it, it will not seem so
far-fetched that it is capable of conquering antibiotic resistant
bacteria, healing the body from chemical weapons poisoning, or
stimulate the regeneration of dying insulin-producing beta cells in
the diabetic, to name but only a fraction of black seed's
experimentally-confirmed powers.
Moving the mountain of inertia and falsity associated with the
conventional concept of disease, is a task well-suited for seeds and
not chemicals.
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.
The time, no doubt, has come for food, seeds, herbs, plants,
sunlight, air, clean water, and yes, love, to assume once again
their central place in medicine, which is to say, the art and
science of facilitating self-healing within the human body.
Failing this, the conventional medical
system will crumble under the growing weight of its own corruption,
ineptitude, and iatrogenic suffering (and subsequent financial
liability) it causes. To the extent that it reforms itself,
utilizing non-patented and non-patentable natural compounds with
actual healing properties, a brighter future awaits on the horizon.
To the degree that it fails, folks will
learn to take back control over their health themselves, which is
why black seed, and other food-medicines, hold the key to
self-empowerment.
References
[i] Domestication of
plants in the Old World (3 ed.). Oxford University
Press. 2000. p. 206.
ISBN 0-19-850356-3.
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