Black seed oil is a supplement that has so many benefits that it was a challenge to put them together into one blog post, but as always, we gave our best!

It has been called “The Herb from Heaven” and frankly, it really feels like a gift from above. Let’s dig in and see why!

What Is Black Seed Oil?

Black seed oil is derived from a plant called Nigella Sativa, native to Eastern Europe, Middle East and Western Asia. The plant has green leaves and rosaceous white and purplish flowers and its ripe fruit contains black seeds that have tremendous health benefits.

It has been used as a traditional remedy for many health issues in Arabic countries, Far East Asia and Africa. According to Prophet Mohammed, black seed oil is supposed to cure any illness except for death. Sounds promising, huh?

The health benefits are not the only reason for using black seed oil though. Its strong and spicy nature has also made it popular for flavoring foods such as bread, sauces and salads. I would say that this takes the term healing foods to a whole new level!

Today black seed oil remains a widely used medicinal plant all over the world as its ability to support our health in countless ways is proven by extensive and ongoing research. 

Bioactive Components

Time to discover what gives black seed oil its super powers. To start with, it contains many health-promoting bioactive components that to some extent can vary according to the type of the seeds. 

The main and most important compounds are thymoquinone, thymohydroquinone, dithymoquinone, p-cymene, carvacrol, 4-terpineol, t-anethole, sesquiterpene, α-pinene, and thymol¹.

Most of its benefits are related to the first one on the list – thymoquinone – which is considered a widely researched emerging natural drug² with proven anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, hepatoprotective and anti-cancer properties among many others.

Let’s move on to see how all these properties can benefit our health.

Immunity and Inflammation

Searches such as “How to boost immunity” and similar have been rocking the google trends in the recent two years and we all know the reason why.

Before I reveal why black seed oil is one of the answers to this widely searched question let’s go through some basics regarding our immune system and inflammation.

Inflammation is the body’s response to an infection, injury or disease. The body tries to fight the irritant and the immune system cells start releasing inflammatory mediators. What this actually means is that the immune system is protecting the body from the irritant.

However, sometimes inflammation can be harmful for the body. This happens when the immune system fights against the body’s own cells by mistake. I’m talking about diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, psoriasis and Crohn’s disease that are collectively known as chronic inflammatory diseases.

The beforementioned thymoquinone has been shown³ to have a positive effect in various immune-related conditions as it acts as an immunomodulating agent. 

To go more into detail, the anti-inflammatory properties of thymoquinone are mediated through the inhibition of the biosynthesis of important mediators³ in the inflammatory process. Furthermore, thymoquinone has also proven its immunomodulatory role in cellular and humoral immunity³.

Furthermore, numerous studies⁴ have actually demonstrated that black seed oil can help patients with chronic inflammatory diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis.Some preliminary data also suggest that black seed oil can even be used in the treatment of Covid-19⁵.

Antioxidants vs Free Radicals

Our diet, busy lifestyle and environmental factors expose us more and more to oxidative stress. What this means is that there is an imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants in the body.

This imbalance in turn can lead to many different diseases such as heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, amongst others. Moreover, the oxidative stress also contributes to aging!

The good news is that black seed oil is very high in antioxidants⁶ meaning it helps to protect the body from the damage caused by the free radicals. Again, thymoquinone can take pride in this. An in-vitro study found that the antioxidant activity of thymoquinone is mainly exerted through the scavenging ability of free radicals, specifically reactive oxygen species.

Cardiovascular Health

There are actually various ways how black seed oil can support heart health. Let’s start off with seeing how it helps us battle high cholesterol levels.

The high content of thymoquinone as well as polyunsaturated fats, fiber, and phytosterols makes black seed oil great for keeping the cholesterol levels in check.

Furthermore, black seed oil can help decrease the amount of cholesterol made in the body as well as prevent cholesterol from being absorbed. It also helps to increase the LDL receptors in the liver.

Moving on, black seed oil has also been found helpful in controlling hypertension⁶. A study with healthy adults found that black seed oil lowered the participants’ systolic and diastolic blood pressures without any adverse effects.

Last but not least, another factor that contributes to cardiovascular health is healthy blood sugar level. Black seed oil has been found to be a promising adjuvant in diabetes control as it helps to lower blood glucose and insulin resistance.

Hair and Skin Health

Now it’s time to see how black seed oil can help us with the more visible parts of our health – hair and skin.

The antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties⁶ of black seed oil make it excellent for hair health. These properties are said to keep the scalp moisturized and help with dandruff issues. In fact, our overall hair health is very much dependent on the scalp health – it’s like the soil for plants.

The abovementioned properties make black seed oil also extremely beneficial for our largest organ – the skin. In addition to moisturizing the skin, it has proven to be effective against different skin conditions.

Firstly, thanks to its antimicrobial, immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects, it has been found to help with treatment of acne⁷.

Secondly, we did already slightly touch the topic of autoimmune diseases, however, it is worth mentioning again that black seed oil has been suggested to be used as an adjuvant topical therapy for treating psoriasis.

Black seed oil has also been reported to promote wound healing⁸ thanks to its anti-inflammatory, tissue growth stimulating, and antioxidative properties.

Another study found that black seed oil can also aid with treating eczema. 

More Benefits

It does seem like a never-ending list of benefits, I know! Just a few more to go.

Firstly, I thought it would be important for you to know that black seed oil has also been found to aid with weight loss.

Moreover, clinical studies⁹ have indicated that black seed oil has preventive and relieving effects on gastro-intestinal diseases.

Let’s bring this list to an end with all the benefits black seed oil has on our brain and mental health. Studies have shown that it can improve memory impairment, help with anxiety, depression, neurotoxicity and neurodegeneration.

NutriONN Organic Black Seed Oil Benefits

Our Black Seed Oil is pressed from non-GMO Nigella Sativa seeds and to assure that all its nutritional benefits are preserved, it is cold-pressed. We have also made sure that no chemicals such as hexane have been used in the extracting process.

As you have probably noticed from the name, our Black Seed Oil is organic (USDA certified organic to be exact) making it the purest and best quality black seed oil on the market.

You can also rest assured that NutriONN Organic Black Seed Oil comes without any added artificial ingredients.

Lastly, do you remember how the most important bioactive compound in black seed oil was called? Correct, Thy-mo-qui-none! Our Black Seed Oil has the highest potency of thymoquinone on the market to really maximize your benefits.

To Conclude

Making this long story short is not easy. Black seed oil really works wonders with almost any health issue as Prophet Mohammed preached – immunity, inflammation, damage from free radicals, heart health, skin and hair health, digestive health, mental health, you name it! 

It’s time to grab your bottle of The Herb from Heaven and enjoy its heavenly benefits!

Sources:

1 The Role of Bioactive Compounds of Nigella sativa in Rheumatoid Arthritis Therapy — Current Reports (Magdalena Zielińska, Katarzyna Dereń, Ewelina Polak-Szczybyło and  Agnieszka Ewa Stępień, 2021)
2 Thymoquinone: an emerging natural drug with a wide range of medical applications (Mohannad Khader and Peter M Eckl, 2014)
3 Immunomodulatory and Anti-inflammatory Effects of Thymoquinone (Hanieh Shaterzadeh Yazdi, Mohammad Foad Noorbakhsh, Farzad Hayati, Saeed Samarghandian, 2018)
4 Immunomodulatory Effect of Nigella sativa Oil on T Lymphocytes in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (Sorayya Kheirouri, Vahid Hadi, Mohammad Alizadeh, 2016)
5 Possible therapeutic effects of Nigella sativa and its thymoquinone on COVID-19 (Mohammad Reza Khazdair, Shoukouh Ghafari, Mahmood Sadeghi, 2021)
6 Nigella sativa L. (Black Cumin): A Promising Natural Remedy for Wide Range of Illnesses (Ebrahim M. Yimer, Kald Beshir Tuem, Aman Karim, Najeeb Ur-Rehman, and Farooq Anwar, 2019)
7 Dermatological effects of Nigella sativa (Salih H.M.Aljabre, Omar M.Alakloby, Mohammad A.Randhawab, 2015)
8 Nigella sativa and Its Active Compound, Thymoquinone, Accelerate Wound Healing in an In Vivo Animal Model: A Comprehensive Review (Nusaibah Sallehuddin, Abid Nordin, Ruszymah Bt Hj Idrus, Mh Busra Fauzi, 2020)
9 Gastrointestinal effects of Nigella sativa and its main constituent, thymoquinone: a review (Farzaneh Shakeri, Zahra Gholamnezhad Bruno Mégarbane, Ramin Rezaee and Mohammad Hosein Boskabady, 2016)