Known since ancient times as a 'remedy for

everything but death,' an increasingly vast body of

scientific research reveals that it is indeed one of
nature's most potent and versatile healing agents.
A year ago, we wrote an article about nigella sativa (/substance/nigella-sativa-aka-
black-seed) (aka black seed) titled, 'The Remedy For Everything But Death (/blog
/black-seed-remedy-everything-death).' It described the research on the many ways in
which black seed (nigella sativa) is a potentially life-saving medicinal food, and is one of our
most popular articles, with over 700K social media shares.

Opening with, "This humble, but immensely powerful seed, kills MRSA, heals the
chemical weapon poisoned body, stimulates regeneration of the dying beta cells
within the diabetic's pancreas, and yet too few even know it exists," the article
summarized the peer-reviewed and published research on 10 of the seed's remarkable
health benefits:

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/16-more-reasons-black-seed-remedy-everything-death2
 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]
(/blog/black-seed-remedy-everything-death#_edn2)
Helicobacter Pylori Infection: Black seeds possess
clinically useful anti-H. pylori activity, comparable to
triple eradication therapy.[iii] (/blog/black-seed-remedy-
everything-death#_edn3)
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] (/blog/black-seed-remedy-
everything-death#_edn4)
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] (/blog/black-seed-
remedy-everything-death#_edn5)
Asthma: Thymoquinone, one of the main active
constituents within Nigella sativa, is superior to the drug
fluticasone in an animal model of asthma.[vi] (/blog
/black-seed-remedy-everything-death#_edn6) Another
study, this time in human subjects, found that boiled
water extracts of black seed have relatively potent
antiasthmatic effect on asthmatic airways.[vii] (/blog
/black-seed-remedy-everything-death#_edn7)
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] (/blog/black-seed-
remedy-everything-death#_edn8)
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] (/blog/black-seed-remedy-

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/16-more-reasons-black-seed-remedy-everything-death2
 everything-death#_edn9)
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] (/blog/black-seed-
remedy-everything-death#_edn10) Animal research has
found that black seed oil has significant inhibitory effects
against colon cancer in rats, without observable side
effects.[xi] (/blog/black-seed-remedy-everything-
death#_edn11)
MRSA: Black seed has anti-bacterial activity against
clinical isolates of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus
aureus.[xii] (/blog/black-seed-remedy-everything-
death#_edn12)
Opiate Addiction/Withdrawal: A study on 35 opiate
addicts found black seed as an effective therapy in long-
term treatment of opioid dependence.[xiii] (/blog/black-
seed-remedy-everything-death#_edn13)

Since then, the biomedical research on black seed has continued to flourish, with another 78
studies published and cited on the National Library of Medicine's biomedical database
MEDLINE (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=nigella+sativa) over the past 11
months.

(http://bit.ly/2qcWHLf)

1. Prevents Radiation Damage: Nigella sativa oil (NSO) and its active component,
thymoquinone (/substance/thymoquinone), protect brain tissue from radiation-
induced nitrosative stress.[i]
2. Protects Against Damage from Heart Attack: A thymoquinone extract from nigella
sativa has a protective effect against damage associated with experimental heart
attack.[ii]
3. Prevents Morphine Dependence/Toxicity: An alcohol extract of nigella sativa
reduces morphine-associated conditioned place preference, an indication of morphine
intoxication, dependence and tolerance.[iii]
4. Prevents Kidney Damage Associated with Diabetes: A thymoquinone extract
from nigella sativa has protective effects on experimental diabetic nephropathy.[iv]
5. Prevents Post-Surgical Adhesions: Covering peritoneal surfaces with Nigella sativa
oil (NSO) after peritoneal trauma is effective in decreasing peritoneal adhesion
formation in an experimental model.[v]
6. Prevents Alzheimer's Associated Neurotoxicity: A thymoquinone extract from
nigella sativa has protective effects on experimental diabetic prevents neurotoxicity
and A1-40-induced apoptosis in the cell model.[vi]
7. Suppresses Breast Cancer Growth: : A thymoquinone extract from nigella sativa
inhibits tumor growth and induces programmed cell death (apoptosis) in a breast

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/16-more-reasons-black-seed-remedy-everything-death2
 cancer xenograft mouse model.[vii] [viii]
8. Exhibits Anti-Psoriasis Properties: The alcohol extract of nigella sativa seeds
exhibit anti-psoriatic activity, consistent with its medicinal use in traditional
medicine.[ix]
9. Prevents Brain Pathology Associated with Parkinson's Disease: A
thymoquinone extract from nigella sativa protects cultured neurons against SN-
induced synaptic toxicity, a pathology observed in the brains of patients with
Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.[x]
10. Kills Highly Aggressive Gliobastoma Brain Cancer Cells: A thymoquinone extract
from nigella sativa exhibits glioblastoma cell killing activity. [xi]
11. Kills Leukemia Cells: A thymoquinone from nigella sativa induces mitochondria-
mediated apoptosis in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in vitro.[xii]
12. Suppresses Liver Cancer Growth: A thymoquinone extract from nigella sativa
prevents chemically-induced cancer in a rat model.[xiii]
13. Prevents Diabetic Pathologies: A water and alcohol extract of nigella sativa at low
doses has a blood-sugar lowering effect and ameliorative effect on regeneration of
pancreatic islets, indicating its value as a therapeutic agent in the management of
diabetes mellitus.[xiv]
14. Suppresses Cervical Cancer Cell Growth: A thymoquinone extract from nigella
sativa exhibits anti-proliferative, apoptotic and anti-invasive properties in a cervical
cancer cell line.[xv]
15. Prevents Lead-Induced Brain Damage: A thymoquinone extract from nigella
sativa ameliorates lead-induced brain damage in Sprague Dawley rats.[xvi]
16. Kills Oral Cancer Cells: A thymoquinone extract from nigella sativa induces
programmed cell death (apoptosis) in oral cancer cells.[xvii]

Why is such a powerful seed not yet on the radar of most medical and nutrition
communities? We know sesame seed can beat Tylenol (/blog/eating-sesame-seeds-
superior-tylenol-knee-arthritis) in reducing arthritis pain and can reduce cardiovascular
disease risk factors in a manner that makes statin drugs envious (/blog/why-eating-
sesame-seed-paste-tahini-could-save-your-life), and we know flaxseeds shrink
breast (/blog/flaxseed-can-prevent-and-kill-breast-cancer-meta-analysis-
confirms-1) and prostate tumors (/flaxseed-significantly-reduces-prostate-tumor-
proliferation-in-humans/), but black seed's benefits are still largely under reported and
underutilized.

Interestingly, despite this blind spot, and as if to confirm black seed's immense potential as
a healing agent, Nestl, the Switzerland-based global food giant, filed a patent on patent on
the use of nigella sativa to "prevent food allergies" in 2010 (Nestl's international patent
publication WO2010133574). This obvious attempt to appropriate traditional knowledge and
use claimed the plant seed or extract should be Nestl's intellectual property when used as a
food ingredient or drug. According to a Third World Network Briefing Paper
(http://www.cbd.int/abs/side-events/icnp2/twn-icnp2-no5-Nestle-Nigella.pdf)
from July, 2012:

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/16-more-reasons-black-seed-remedy-everything-death2
 "The Swiss giant's claims appear invalid, as traditional uses of Nigella
sativa clearly anticipate Nestl's patent application, and developing
country scholarship has already validated these traditional uses and
further described, in contemporary scientific terms, the very medicinal
properties of black seed that Nestl seeks to claim as its own
"invention".

"Nestl claims any use of an opioid receptor-stimulating compound to

treat or prevent allergies, specifically thymoquinone and, more
specifically, administration of thymoquinone in the form of Nigella sativa
plant material (seeds).3 The type of food allergy of greatest focus is
upset stomach and diarrhea."

The good news is that no such patent has yet to win approval, and for now, this food is still
freely available. For additional research updates, simply go to Pubmed.gov
(http://www.pubmed.gov), and sign up for an automatic email update for the keyword
"nigella sativa," and you'll be one of the first to learn about the new research being done on
this amazing seed as it comes directly through the biomedical research pipeline.

[i] Adem Ahlatci, Abdurahman Kuzhan, Seyithan Taysi, Omer Can Demirtas, Hilal Eryigit
Alkis, Mehmet Tarakcioglu, Ali Demirci, Derya Caglayan, Edibe Saricicek, Kadir Cinar.
Radiation-modifying abilities of Nigella sativa and Thymoquinone on radiation-
induced nitrosative stress in the brain tissue. (/article/nigella-sativa-oil-nso-and-
its-active-component-tq-clearly-protect-brain) Phytomedicine. 2013 Nov 21. pii:
S0944-7113(13)00432-7. doi: 10.1016/j.phymed.2013.10.023. [Epub ahead of print]

[ii] Mohammad Akram Randhawa, Mastour Safar Alghamdi, Subir Kumar Maulik. The effect
of thymoquinone, an active component of Nigella sativa, on isoproterenol induced
myocardial injury. (/article/nigella-sativa-protects-against-isoproterenol-induced-
myocardial-injury) Pak J Pharm Sci. 2013 Nov;26(6):1215-9.

[iii] Milad Anvari, Atefeh Seddigh, Mohammad Naser Shafei, Hassan Rakhshandeh, Amir
Hossein Talebi, Mohammad Reza Tahani, S Mohsen Saeedjalali, Mahmoud Hosseini. Nigella
sativa extract affects conditioned place preference induced by morphine in rats.
(/article/nigella-sativa-extract-affects-conditioned-place-preference-induced-
morphine) 2012 Oct;32(2):82-8. doi: 10.4103/0257-7941.118537.

[iv] Ola M Omran. Effects of Thymoquinone on STZ-induced Diabetic Nephropathy:

An Immunohistochemical Study. (/article/thymoquinone-has-protective-effects-
experimental-diabetic-nephropathy) Ultrastruct Pathol. 2013 Oct 17.

[v] Ahmet Sahbaz, Firat Ersan, Serdar Aydin. Effect of Nigella sativa oil on
postoperative peritoneal adhesion formation. (/article/covering-peritoneal-
surfaces-nigella-sativa-oil-after-peritoneal-trauma) J Obstet Gynaecol Res. 2013 Oct
7. doi: 10.1111/jog.12172.

[vi] Norsharina Ismail, Maznah Ismail, Musalmah Mazlan, Latiffah Abdul Latiff, Mustapha
Umar Imam, Shahid Iqbal, Nur Hanisah Azmi, Siti Aisyah Abd Ghafar, Kim Wei Chan.
Thymoquinone Prevents-Amyloid Neurotoxicity in Primary Cultured Cerebellar
Granule Neurons. (/article/thymoquinone-prevents%CE%B2-amyloid-
neurotoxicity-primary-cultured-cerebellar) 2013 Nov;33(8):1159-69. doi:
10.1007/s10571-013-9982-z. Epub 2013 Oct 8.

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/16-more-reasons-black-seed-remedy-everything-death2
[vii] Chern Chiuh Woo, Annie Hsu, Alan Prem Kumar, Gautam Sethi, Kwong Huat Benny
Tan. Thymoquinone Inhibits Tumor Growth and Induces Apoptosis in a Breast
Cancer Xenograft Mouse Model: The Role of p38 MAPK and ROS. (/article
/thymoquinone-inhibits-tumor-growth-and-induces-apoptosis-breast-cancer)
2013 Oct 2;8(10):e75356. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075356. PMID: 24098377

[viii] Shashi Rajput, B N Prashanth Kumar, Kaushik Kumar Dey, Ipsita Pal, Aditya Parekh,
Mahitosh Mandal. Molecular targeting of Akt by thymoquinone promotes G1 arrest
through translation inhibition of cyclin D1 and induces apoptosis in breast cancer
cells. (/article/molecular-targeting-akt-thymoquinone-promotes-g1-arrest-
through-translation) 2013 Nov 13;93(21):783-90. doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2013.09.009. Epub
2013 Sep 15. PMID: 24044882

[ix] Lalitha Priyanka Dwarampudi, Dhanabal Palaniswamy, Muruganantham Nithyanantham,

P S Raghu. Antipsoriatic activity and cytotoxicity of ethanolic extract of Nigella
sativa seeds. (/article/ethanolic-extract-nigella-sativa-seeds-exhibits-
antipsoriatic-activity) 2012 Oct;8(32):268-72. doi: 10.4103/0973-1296.103650.
PMID:24082629

[x] A H Alhebshi, A Odawara, M Gotoh, I Suzuki. Thymoquinone protects cultured

hippocampal and human induced pluripotent stem cells-derived neurons against-
synuclein-induced synapse damage. (/article/thymoquinone-protects-cultured-
hippocampal-and-human-induced-pluripotent-stem) Neurosci Lett. 2013 Sep 27. pii:
S0304-3940(13)00873-2. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2013.09.049. PMID: 24080376 (/article
/thymoquinone-protects-cultured-hippocampal-and-human-induced-pluripotent-stem)

[xi] Ira O Racoma, Walter Hans Meisen, Qi-En Wang, Balveen Kaur, Altaf A Wani.
Thymoquinone inhibits autophagy and induces cathepsin-mediated, caspase-
independent cell death in glioblastoma cells. (/article/thymoquinone-inhibits-
autophagy-and-induces-cathepsin-mediated-caspase) 2013 Sep 9;8(9):e72882. doi:
10.1371/journal.pone.0072882. PMID: 24039814

[xii] Landa Zeenelabdin Ali Salim, Syam Mohan, Rozana Othman, Siddig Ibrahim
Abdelwahab, Behnam Kamalidehghan, Bassem Y Sheikh, Mohamed Yousif Ibrahim.
Thymoquinone induces mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in acute lymphoblastic
leukaemia in vitro. (/article/thymoquinone-induces-mitochondria-mediated-
apoptosis-acute-lymphoblastic) . 2013 Sep 12;18(9):11219-40. doi:
10.3390/molecules180911219. PMID: 24036512

[xiii] Subramanian Raghunandhakumar, Arumugam Paramasivam, Selvam Senthilraja,

Chandrasekar Naveenkumar, Selvamani Asokkumar, John Binuclara, Sundaram Jagan, Pandi
Anandakumar, Thiruvengadam Devaki. Thymoquinone inhibits cell proliferation
through regulation of G1/S phase cell cycle transition in N-nitrosodiethylamine-
induced experimental rat hepatocellular carcinoma. (/article/thymoquinone-
inhibits-cell-proliferation-through-regulation-g1s-phase-cell) 2013 Oct
23;223(1):60-72. doi: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2013.08.018. Epub 2013 Sep 3. PMID:24012840

[xiv] Samad Alimohammadi, Rahim Hobbenaghi, Javad Javanbakht, Danial Kheradmand,

Reza Mortezaee, Maryam Tavakoli, Farshid Khadivar, Hamid Akbari. Protective and
antidiabetic effects of extract from Nigella sativa on blood glucose concentrations
against streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic in rats: an experimental study with
histopathological evaluation. (/article/protective-and-antidiabetic-effects-extract-
nigella-sativa-blood-glucose) PMID: 23947821 (/article/protective-and-antidiabetic-
effects-extract-nigella-sativa-blood-glucose)

[xv] Cagri Sakalar, Merve Yuruk, Tugba Kaya, Metin Aytekin, Salih Kuk, Halit Canatan.

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/16-more-reasons-black-seed-remedy-everything-death2
Pronounced transcriptional regulation of apoptotic and TNF-NF-kappa-B signaling
genes during the course of thymoquinone mediated apoptosis in HeLa cells.
(/article/thymoquinone-exhibits-anti-proliferative-apoptotic-and-anti-invasive)
Mol Cell Biochem. 2013 Nov;383(1-2):243-51. doi: 10.1007/s11010-013-1772-x. Epub
2013 Aug 14.PMID: 23943306 (/article/thymoquinone-exhibits-anti-proliferative-apoptotic-
and-anti-invasive)

[xvi] Khaled Radad, Khaled Hassanein, Mubarak Al-Shraim, Rudolf Moldzio, Wolf-Dieter
Rausch. Thymoquinone ameliorates lead-induced brain damage in Sprague Dawley
rats. (/article/thymoquinone-ameliorates-lead-induced-brain-damage-sprague-
dawley-rats) PMID: 23910425 (/article/thymoquinone-ameliorates-lead-induced-brain-
damage-sprague-dawley-rats)

[xvii] Ehab Abdelfadil, Ya-Hsin Cheng, Da-Tian Bau, Wei-Jen Ting, Li-Mien Chen, Hsi-Hsien
Hsu, Yueh-Min Lin, Ray-Jade Chen, Fu-Jenn Tsai, Chang-Hai Tsai, Chih-Yang Huang.
Thymoquinone induces apoptosis in oral cancer cells through p38 inhibition.
(/article/thymoquinone-induces-apoptosis-oral-cancer-cells-through-p38%CE
%B2-inhibition)

(http://bit.ly/2qcWHLf)

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