For three cents a day, black cumin may improve cholesterol and triglyceride levels, blood pressure, and blood sugar control, as well as accelerate the loss of body fat.
Friday Favorites: Benefits of Black Cumin Seed (Nigella Sativa) for Weight Loss
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Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
Black cumin, also known as Nigella sativa or simply black seed, is not actually related to cumin (it’s a member of the buttercup rather than carrot family). Black cumin is used in Indian and Middle Eastern cuisines just like any other regular spice, and has a peppery flavor. But it’s also been prized for purported medicinal benefits. Described as a “miracle herb,” with mentions going back to the Old Testament, it was found cached in King Tut’s tomb, for instance, and Prophet Muhammad is evidently quoted as saying black cumin could “heal every disease except death.” Only in the last 50 years or so has it been put to the test though, culminating in more than a thousand papers published in the medical literature.
Typical doses used in studies are just one or two grams a day, which is only about a quarter teaspoon. This enables researchers to perform randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials by stuffing the whole food spice powdered into capsules, rather than studying some component or extract.
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials have found that daily black cumin consumption significantly improves cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, and blood sugar control. Some of the results were quite extraordinary. For example, one study found that postmenopausal women randomized to a gram a day (which is less than a quarter teaspoon) of black cumin powder reduced their LDL cholesterol by 27 percent within two months, significantly better than placebo. Those are the kind of results you’d expect from a statin drug, yet this was just a sprinkle’s worth of a simple spice. Black cumin may even help with menopausal symptoms. Now it didn’t cure anything; a month after stopping the spice, cholesterol levels started to creep back up, but it does appear to be a cheap, safe, effective (and delicious if you like things spicy) treatment for some of our deadliest risk factors. And the side effects? Loss of appetite and weight loss. Bingo!
The latest systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled weight loss trials found that about a quarter teaspoon of black cumin powder every day does appear to cause weight loss within a span of a few months. If it really can benefit so many facets of health, why don’t you hear more about it? Why wasn’t I taught about it in medical school? Maybe because there’s little profit motive. Black cumin is just a common, natural spice. The daily dose used in most of these studies would cost about three cents a day. You’re not going to thrill your stockholders by selling something you can’t patent that costs three cents a day. Black cumin has become a staple in my family’s daily diet. You can just keep a pepper mill filled with it right on the kitchen table, grinding it onto foods just like black pepper—easy and delicious.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Ahmad A, Husain A, Mujeeb M, et al. A review on therapeutic potential of Nigella sativa: A miracle herb. Asian Pac J Trop Biomed. 2013;3(5):337-52.
- Sharma NK, Ahirwar D, Jhade D, Gupta S. Medicinal and pharmacological potential of Nigella sativa: A review. Ethnobotanical Rev. 2009; 13:946-55.
- Sahebkar A, Beccuti G, Simental-Mendía LE, Nobili V, Bo S. Nigella sativa (black seed) effects on plasma lipid concentrations in humans: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials. Pharmacol Res. 2016;106:37-50.
- Sahebkar A, Soranna D, Liu X, et al. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of supplementation with Nigella sativa (black seed) on blood pressure. J Hypertens. 2016;34(11):2127-35.
- Daryabeygi-Khotbehsara R, Golzarand M, Ghaffari MP, Djafarian K. Nigella sativa improves glucose homeostasis and serum lipids in type 2 diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Complement Ther Med. 2017;35:6-13.
- Ibrahim RM, Hamdan NS, Mahmud R, et al. A randomised controlled trial on hypolipidemic effects of Nigella Sativa seeds powder in menopausal women. J Transl Med. 2014;12:82.
- Latiff LA, Parhizkar S, Dollah MA, Hassan ST. Alternative supplement for enhancement of reproductive health and metabolic profile among perimenopausal women: A novel role of Nigella sativa. Iran J Basic Med Sci. 2014;17(12):980-5.
- Mousaviad SM, Sheikhi A, Varkaneh HK, Zarezadeh M, Rahmani J, Milajerdi A. Effect of Nigella sativa supplementation on obesity indices: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Complement Ther Med. 2018;38:48-57.
Video production by Glass Entertainment
Motion graphics by Avo Media
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
Black cumin, also known as Nigella sativa or simply black seed, is not actually related to cumin (it’s a member of the buttercup rather than carrot family). Black cumin is used in Indian and Middle Eastern cuisines just like any other regular spice, and has a peppery flavor. But it’s also been prized for purported medicinal benefits. Described as a “miracle herb,” with mentions going back to the Old Testament, it was found cached in King Tut’s tomb, for instance, and Prophet Muhammad is evidently quoted as saying black cumin could “heal every disease except death.” Only in the last 50 years or so has it been put to the test though, culminating in more than a thousand papers published in the medical literature.
Typical doses used in studies are just one or two grams a day, which is only about a quarter teaspoon. This enables researchers to perform randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials by stuffing the whole food spice powdered into capsules, rather than studying some component or extract.
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials have found that daily black cumin consumption significantly improves cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, and blood sugar control. Some of the results were quite extraordinary. For example, one study found that postmenopausal women randomized to a gram a day (which is less than a quarter teaspoon) of black cumin powder reduced their LDL cholesterol by 27 percent within two months, significantly better than placebo. Those are the kind of results you’d expect from a statin drug, yet this was just a sprinkle’s worth of a simple spice. Black cumin may even help with menopausal symptoms. Now it didn’t cure anything; a month after stopping the spice, cholesterol levels started to creep back up, but it does appear to be a cheap, safe, effective (and delicious if you like things spicy) treatment for some of our deadliest risk factors. And the side effects? Loss of appetite and weight loss. Bingo!
The latest systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled weight loss trials found that about a quarter teaspoon of black cumin powder every day does appear to cause weight loss within a span of a few months. If it really can benefit so many facets of health, why don’t you hear more about it? Why wasn’t I taught about it in medical school? Maybe because there’s little profit motive. Black cumin is just a common, natural spice. The daily dose used in most of these studies would cost about three cents a day. You’re not going to thrill your stockholders by selling something you can’t patent that costs three cents a day. Black cumin has become a staple in my family’s daily diet. You can just keep a pepper mill filled with it right on the kitchen table, grinding it onto foods just like black pepper—easy and delicious.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Ahmad A, Husain A, Mujeeb M, et al. A review on therapeutic potential of Nigella sativa: A miracle herb. Asian Pac J Trop Biomed. 2013;3(5):337-52.
- Sharma NK, Ahirwar D, Jhade D, Gupta S. Medicinal and pharmacological potential of Nigella sativa: A review. Ethnobotanical Rev. 2009; 13:946-55.
- Sahebkar A, Beccuti G, Simental-Mendía LE, Nobili V, Bo S. Nigella sativa (black seed) effects on plasma lipid concentrations in humans: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials. Pharmacol Res. 2016;106:37-50.
- Sahebkar A, Soranna D, Liu X, et al. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of supplementation with Nigella sativa (black seed) on blood pressure. J Hypertens. 2016;34(11):2127-35.
- Daryabeygi-Khotbehsara R, Golzarand M, Ghaffari MP, Djafarian K. Nigella sativa improves glucose homeostasis and serum lipids in type 2 diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Complement Ther Med. 2017;35:6-13.
- Ibrahim RM, Hamdan NS, Mahmud R, et al. A randomised controlled trial on hypolipidemic effects of Nigella Sativa seeds powder in menopausal women. J Transl Med. 2014;12:82.
- Latiff LA, Parhizkar S, Dollah MA, Hassan ST. Alternative supplement for enhancement of reproductive health and metabolic profile among perimenopausal women: A novel role of Nigella sativa. Iran J Basic Med Sci. 2014;17(12):980-5.
- Mousaviad SM, Sheikhi A, Varkaneh HK, Zarezadeh M, Rahmani J, Milajerdi A. Effect of Nigella sativa supplementation on obesity indices: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Complement Ther Med. 2018;38:48-57.
Video production by Glass Entertainment
Motion graphics by Avo Media
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Title
Friday Favorites: Benefits of Black Cumin Seed (Nigella Sativa) for Weight Loss
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
Consuming ¼ teaspoon of ground black cumin a day is one of my 21 Tweaks for accelerating weight loss. You can see all of them in my free Daily Dozen app (on iOS and Android) and read about them in-depth in How Not to Diet. (All proceeds from my books are donated to charity.) I also cover some of black cumin’s weight-loss benefits in my Evidence-Based Weight Loss presentation.
UPDATE: Hat tip to George Lawrence for questioning the government’s weight per serving tables and suggesting I weigh it myself. I bought a scale and got 3.2g per teaspoon, which makes a quarter teaspoon barely a gram (0.8g). So, the 1 to 2 grams a day may be more like ¼ to ½ teaspoon a day.
The original video aired on June 4, 2024.
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