Black Seed Oil Evaluated for Chronic Inflammation

Black seed contains an abundance of nutrients that can help improve your health by balancing blood pressure, controlling blood sugar, and targeting obesity. kostrez/Shutterstock

Short-term use of black seed oil may reduce chronic inflammation and is being tested in the treatment of COVID-19.

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• Black seed oil may be an alternative herbal treatment for combating COVID-19
• The bioactive compounds have an antihistamine effect and anti-inflammatory properties that downregulate interferon regulatory factor 3 activation and promote autophagy
• Researchers hypothesize that several of the terpenes in the oil are similar in structure to chloroquine and may act as a zinc ionophore; evidence also suggests one compound may block ACE2 receptors, which the virus uses to release viral RNA into the cell
• Black seed oil has many traditional medicinal uses, including as an antidiabetic, antimicrobial, bronchodilator and antioxidant
• The Front Line doctors list black seed oil as an alternative therapeutic agent in the treatment of COVID-19. However, the oil is high in linoleic acid and so should not be used preventively against COVID

Black seed oil has been used for its therapeutic benefits for thousands of years. Since the pandemic began, researchers have been evaluating the effect it may have on COVID-19.[1] The seeds come from the Nigella sativa (N. sativa) plant that grows in Southern Europe, Southwest Asia and the Middle East.[2] Traditional medicine healers have used the seeds in different forms.

Black seed is coal-black with a dull surface and shaped like tiny Brazil nuts. The bioactive components include thymoquinone, α-hederin, alkaloids and omega-6 fatty acids.