We have indexed salient
research, available to view on Immortalityherbs.com on our Black Seed
(Nigella Sativa) page, on well over 40 health conditions that may be benefited
from the use of the herb, including over 20 distinct pharmacological actions it
expresses, such as:
- Analgesic (Pain-Killing)
- Anti-Bacterial
- Anti-Inflammatory
- Anti-Ulcer
- Anti-Cholinergic
- Anti-Fungal
- Ant-Hypertensive
- Antioxidant
- Antispasmodic
- Antiviral
- Bronchodilator
- Gluconeogenesis Inhibitor (Anti-Diabetic)
- Hepatoprotective (Liver Protecting)
- Hypotensive
- Insulin Sensitizing
- Interferon Inducer
- Leukotriene Antagonist
- Renoprotective (Kidney Protecting)
- Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha Inhibitor
These 22 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 alternative remedies 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 a among many healing herbs 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.
Helicobacter Pylori
Infection:
Black seeds possess
clinically useful anti-H. pylori activity, comparable to triple eradication
therapy.
Epilepsy:
Black seeds were
traditionally known as a medicinal herb plants 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.
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.
Thymoquinone, one of the
main active constituents within Nigella sativa (black cumin), is superior to
the drug fluticasone in an animal model of asthma. Another
study, this time in human subjects, found that boiled water extracts of black
seed have relatively potent antiasthmatic effect on asthmatic airways.
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.
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.
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. Animal research has found that black seed oil
has significant inhibitory effects against colon cancer in rats, without
observable side effects.
MRSA:
Black seed has
anti-bacterial activity against clinical isolates of methicillin resistant
Staphylococcus aureus.
Opiate
Addiction/Withdrawal:
A study on 35
opiate addicts found black seed as an effective therapy in long-term treatment
of opioid dependence.
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 degree 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