The black cumin or Nigella sativa plant has been used for more than 2,000 years in traditional remedies throughout Asia, Africa and Europe. Also known as “Love in a Mist” and the “Seed of Blessing,” the seeds were even found in King Tut’s tomb and praised by the Prophet Mohammed as a remedy for “every illness except death.” Black cumin seeds and their extracted oil have long been taken orally and applied to skin to maintain overall health and combat a wide range of ailments — including those affecting the digestive tract and the cardiovascular, immune and respiratory systems.
Over the past few decades, researchers have taken a closer look at the popular remedy and recognized its potential as a clinical drug. Building on knowledge from traditional medicine systems like Ayurveda and Unani, both cell culture and animal studies (along with a smaller number of human ones) have delivered promising early data.
“Some of the results are quite extraordinary,” says Michael Greger, a general practitioner specializing in clinical nutrition and the founder of NutritionFacts.org. For example, a 2014 study found that menopausal women taking a daily gram of black cumin powder reduced their bad LDL cholesterol by 27 percent within two months. “That’s the kind of result you’d expect from taking a statin drug, but it was achieved with just a sprinkle of a spice,” Greger says.
