Black Cumin
Nigella sativa
Also known as: Black Seed, Kalonji, Blessed Seed
Overview
Used for centuries in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and North African traditional medicine; an Islamic hadith describes black seed as a remedy for every disease except death. That's tradition, not evidence. Human trials have tested whole seed or oil — not its isolated compound thymoquinone — and show modest but real benefits for blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar. Work on thymoquinone and immune signaling is still mostly laboratory and animal research, and the few human immune trials are small and inconsistent.
Proposed mechanism
In laboratory and animal models, thymoquinone and related black seed compounds dampen inflammatory signaling through NF-kB, COX, and 5-LOX and reduce mast-cell histamine release; none of that has been measured directly in people. Whole-seed extracts relax airway smooth muscle in isolated tissue, but that calcium-channel-blocking activity tracks to the seed's oil fraction rather than to thymoquinone, and was not confirmed when tested in airway tissue. In human trials, the ingested seed or seed oil lowers CRP and oxidative-stress markers, with inconsistent effects on TNF-alpha and IL-6. Added to standard inhaled therapy, small asthma trials show modest gains in symptom-control scores and mixed effects on lung function, using preparations reviewers call poorly standardized. Anti-biofilm activity is well documented in vitro; the only human data are small dental trials of topical mouthwash or gel, with mixed results against chlorhexidine.
Mechanisms describe how researchers think a compound may act, often from laboratory work — a proposed mechanism is not proof of a clinical effect in people.
Traditional & studied uses
Related pathways
Pathway tags are a research aid for browsing the glossary — they are not a claim that this ingredient treats any condition.