Black cumin seeds oil for Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis

The prophet Muhammad had said that Black cumin seed can cure everything but death.

Due to the impressive medicinal benefits, use of black cumin seeds for psoriasis is gaining popularity among alternative health experts. More than 600 peer reviewed scientific articles have been published to demonstrate medicinal benefits of Black cumin seeds (Botanical name -Nigella Sativa).

A research study published in the Pharmacognosy Magazine, Oct-Dec 2012 compared antipsoriatic activity of black cumin seeds extracts against a conventional pharma based topical formulation, tazarotene. The methanolic extracts of black cumin seeds found to be at par with tazarotene (0.1%) gel in reducing the growth of skin cells and reliving other psoriasis symptoms.

Another recent study conducted by Iranian health experts concluded that black cumin seed oil is as effective as Betamethasone (a conventional pharma drug) in reducing the severity of hand eczema.

What are Black Cumin Seeds

Black cumin seeds are produced by a flowering plant called Nigella sativa. This plant was firstly identified in the Middle East. These seeds have a long history of use for medicinal purposes in the Middle East and Asia, particularly Egypt and India.

In India, culinary use of black cumin seeds is quite common. I have seen my mother using these seeds to make pickles.

Medicinal benefits of Black cumin seeds

Ancient Greek history has evidences of using black cumin seeds for treating health issues like- intestinal worms and parasites, high blood pressure, respiratory tract issues (asthma, nasal congestion, allergies, cold and flu), digestive tract issues (constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating), toothaches, headaches and various skin conditions.

The recent popularity of these seeds can be credited to various scientific researches demonstrating that black cumin seeds can help in regenerating body cells and tissues (due to its powerful antioxidant properties) to boost your immunity and can help in preventing and dealing with various types of cancer.

Nutritional content in Black cumin seeds

Black cumin seeds contain phytochemicals which contribute towards most of the medicinal benefits. Phytochemicals are naturally occurring chemicals in plants which are biologically active. The most active phytochemicals in black cumin seeds are thymoquinone, thymohydroquinone and thymol.

Apart from these phytochemicals, black cumin seeds are a good source of essential fats (omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids), essential amino acids, minerals, vitamins and dietary fibers.

A brief idea of the nutritional content of Black cumin seeds is below:

Serving size- 6 grams (1 tablespoon)

Here it is evident that the standard serving size (6 grams) of these seeds provide a good portion of the daily requirement of minerals with traces of essential fatty acids and vitamins. But, let us remember again that most of the health benefits of black cumin seeds are because of the phytochemicals that it contain.

Black cumin seeds for Psoriasis

There are two ways to use black cumin seeds for Psoriasis healing:

1. Oral consumption of black cumin seed oil capsules (gulping a capsule is far easier than chewing raw seeds)
2. External application of black cumin seed oil on psoriasis lesions

Benefits of Oral Consumption

Black cumin seed oil regulates the immune system, purifies blood, improves digestion and protects the body against various foreign matters like fungi and virus.

• Powerful anti-bacterial properties

Psoriasis is deeply related to Leaky gut syndrome. When the intestinal linings (gut linings) of your digestive tract becomes hyper-permeable and allow the unwanted stuffs such as undigested food and pathogens (disease causing bacteria, fungi and viruses) to enter your bloodstream. Your immune system doesn’t like these foreign invaders in your body and register its protest by triggering an autoimmune reaction to cause inflammation and rapid growth of skin cells (as in case of psoriasis).

Hence, the presence of pathogens  in your body plays a crucial role in triggering psoriasis. By eliminating these pathogens from your body, black cumin seeds can help to calm down your immune system which in turn can relieve the inflammation and related psoriasis symptoms.

Various scientific researches have concluded that Black cumin seeds are quite effective against pathogens. Even the bacteria which are highly resistant to drugs such as- cholera bacterium and E.coli can also be eliminated by black cumin seeds.

A research study conducted at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, India tested 144 strains of bacteria- most of them were resistant to various antibiotics. Out of these 144 strains, 97 were inhibited by black cumin seed oil.

This ability of black cumin seeds to inhibit these “superbugs” brings a whole lot of benefits for people dealing with autoimmune disorders like psoriasis.

Apart from regulating the immune system, elimination of pathogens from your body has additional advantages such as:

1. Improved digestive health– By neutralizing the intestinal worms, black cumin seeds help improve the overall health of the digestive tract.
2. Blood purification– The pathogens when enter your bloodstream, makes it impure and can cause a lot of health issues, particularly skin disorders. Black cumin seeds help purify your blood by eliminating these pathogens
3. Candida elimination– In some cases, Candida (yeast overgrowth) is also linked to Psoriasis. Oral consumption of black cumin seeds can be helpful in these cases also.

• Powerful Anti-inflammatory properties

Thymoquinone possesses powerful anti-inflammatory properties. It plays a vital role in various highly appreciable properties of black cumin seeds such as  anti-cancer, anti-diabetic and anti-obesity. Obesity and Psoriasis have inflammation in common. That is why, obesity is considered as a trigger for psoriasis. In children, it is a bigger culprit than adults.

A research study published in the magazine- Journal of Obesity and Metabolic research- states that black cumin seeds have powerful anti-obesity properties which can further help in reducing various related disorders such as diabetes and heart problems.

Read more: Regular exercise can prove a game changer for Psoriasis

Psoriasis itself is an inflammatory skin condition. Hence, we can expect that anti-inflammatory benefits from this plant herb would help us beyond reduction in obesity.

• Powerful Immunity booster

Black cumin seeds, not only regulate the immunity, but enhances it also fight off various diseases. These seeds boost your body immunity by stimulating the growth of healthy bone marrow cells at a very fast rate and help in developing immune cells in your body. According to a research, black cumin seed capsules (1 gram per capsule) taken twice a day for four weeks demonstrated a steep rise of 72% in helper to suppressor T-cells (it means more production of positive T-cells in comparison to negative T-cells). Some natural health experts recommend taking black cumin seed supplements with garlic. This combination can bring back the harmony in your body and prevent immune cells from getting destroyed.

It has been observed that cold, flu and other respiratory infections can trigger psoriasis. Many people experience the first psoriasis breakout after a strep throat. The bronchodilating action of black cumin seeds can help deal with these problems. We can relate the immunity boosting power of these tiny seeds to this bronchodilating action. Your body tissues release histamine, a substance that can cause allergic reactions to develop various respiratory system related disorders. Black cumin seeds can inhibit the release of histamine and hence can reduce the symptoms of these allergic reactions without any side effects.

• Improved Liver health

Liver is an important eliminatory organ of your body. Almost all the body wastes are handled by liver. Due to leaky gut, your liver is over loaded with increased body toxins and gradually, it becomes impaired. Such a situation further worsens psoriasis symptoms. Psoriasis healing does involve improved liver health.

If you noticed the above mentioned list of pharmacological actions of black cumin seeds, it includes hepato-protective properties (liver protective) also. A rat study conducted in Egypt implies that black cumin seed oil reduces the liver damage and improves its functioning.

External application of Black cumin seed oil

Due to its excellent anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties along with skin nourishing effect, black cumin seed oil applied on psoriasis lesions can help relieve symptoms significantly.

In a rat study, it was concluded that 95% ethanolic extract of black cumin seeds has antipsoriatic properties and can help relieve psoriasis symptoms when applied externally.

• Reduced skin inflammation– When applied on skin lesions, relieves the skin inflammation along with reduction in skin redness.
• Deep skin moisturization– Psoriasis is characterized by skin dryness. Essential fatty acids contained in black cumin seed oil can help nourish and moisturize the skin deeply to reduce the scale thickness and itching.
• Fights infection– Open cracks in psoriasis lesions are always an easy target for external disease causing microbes. Due to powerful antimicrobial properties, applying black cumin seed oil on psoriasis lesions can help fight off these microbes.
• Reduces hair loss associated with scalp psoriasis– Hair loss due to scalp psoriasis is not permanent. Still, empty spaces in scalp due to continuous falling of hairs bother us. Black cumin seed oil strengthens the hair follicles to make the roots stronger. It results in lesser hair fall.

How to use Black cumin seeds

• Oral consumption

Consume pure black cumin seeds oil capsules. The optimum daily dosage is 1500-2000 mg. Black cumin seed oil is extracted from seeds by the cold pressing method. Cold pressing method involves the oil extraction without applying any external heat to ensure that oil doesn’t lose its natural healing properties.

• External application on the skin

Either you can apply black cumin seed oil alone on the affected skin areas or mix it with other healing oils such as virgin coconut oil and tea tree oil.

From where to buy

Pure black cumin seed oil can be purchased from any herbal store near to you or you can buy them online. Check below Amazon links for some discounts:

Possible side effects of Black cumin seeds

Being a natural herb, black cumin seeds are quite safe to use for most of the people even in the long term. Still, do consider below points before start using them:

• Black cumin seeds can slow down the process of blood clotting. Hence, it can worse the bleeding disorders. Hence, if you are dealing with low blood pressure or any other heart condition, do consult your physician before using them.
• Black cumin seeds can interfere with fertility and hence, should be avoided during pregnancy.
• These seeds increase the flow of breast milk in nursing mothers and hence consumption of black cumin seeds in food amounts should not be a problem. Going for safer side, breast feeding ladies should refrain from consuming it in larger amounts.
• Black cumin seeds have sedative effects. Hence, it can increase sleepiness in some people.

Final words

Psoriasis is a complex autoimmune disorder and there is no “one for all” type treatment available. Restricted psoriasis diet, positive changes in lifestyle, stress management and use of natural herbs and dietary supplements- all these factors play their role in the holistic healing of psoriasis.

We can’t say that black cumin seed oil alone will help you disappear psoriasis. But, it is a welcome addition to the list of natural herbs that can help you to manage your psoriasis symptoms.

References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3785163/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23198836

http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/5637/1/NPR%207(1)%2010-14.pdf

http://www.jomrjournal.org/article.asp?issn=2347-9906;year=2014;volume=1;issue=3;spage=194;epage=195;aulast=Bhandari

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23543440

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3642442/