Everyone’s looking for the next great way to improve their health. You’ve tried multivitamins, essential oils, and all those multi-level marketing health products.
Chances are that you’re overlooking a natural option with tons of benefits: black seed oil. You may have heard black seed called by many names, like kalonji, black cumin, black caraway, or black onion seed. No matter what you call it, the benefits are the same.
Researchers are finding more and more ways black seed can boost your health. While they need more research in some cases, findings have already suggested dozens of possible benefits.
The Potential Benefits of Black Seed Oil
If you haven’t tried black seed oil yet, check out a small sample of the many possible advantages you could see:
1. Less Inflammation
Inflammation is one of those health buzzwords today, and for good reason. It impacts almost every system in your body.
One natural way to reduce inflammation is with black seed oil because it has antioxidant properties. Depending on your needs, it may be helpful if you take it by mouth or apply it to your skin.
2. More Effective Weight Loss
A healthy weight can help you live a longer, healthier life along with giving you more confidence day to day. The basics of eating healthy and exercising more are simple. However, sometimes these measures alone aren’t enough.
While many weight loss supplements are unsafe, black seed oil can help you lose more weight in a natural, safe way.
3. Relief for Stomach Discomfort
Black seed oil can help to relieve a variety of stomach-related issues. It can ease stomach pain and cramps as well as gas and bloating.
While the stomach problems above are temporary, black seed oil can help with more serious issues as well. In particular, it may be able to reduce your risk for stomach ulcers.
4. Lower Cancer Risk
While it’s not a cancer treatment, there is evidence that black seed oil can lower your risk factors. For example, you can apply it to your skin to reduce your risk for skin cancer. It may be able to slow tumor growth as well.
Black seed oil may also have benefits for patients who are already getting cancer treatment as well. There is evidence that it can lower the tissue damage radiation treatments cause.
The advantages of black seed oil don’t stop after remission. The supplement may help to reduce cancer recurrence in patients who have had acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
5. Improved Cholesterol
Your good cholesterol and bad cholesterol are among the most important factors in heart health. Black seed oil is rich in fatty acids which can help to maintain healthy cholesterol levels.
6. Reduced Opioid Withdrawal Symptoms
If you’re trying to beat an opioid addiction, the withdrawal symptoms can deter you from getting sober. However, there is evidence that black seed extract can reduce the withdrawal symptoms, clearing an easier path to recovery.
7. Fewer Symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a painful, mobility-lowering condition that causes joint inflammation. Treatments are limited, but black seed oil has been shown to reduce the symptoms. Patients often have fewer inflammatory markers in their blood as well as less swelling in their joints.
8. Better Diabetes Management
Type 1 and type 2 diabetes alike can have serious complications if you don’t manage them well. On top of medications, black seed oil may help to regulate your blood sugar levels long-term.
As an added bonus, diabetes patients have shown better cholesterol levels as well.
9. Less Acne
Contrary to stereotypes, acne isn’t a problem for teenagers alone. It can be an embarrassing and uncomfortable condition for anyone. However, evidence shows that mixing black seed oil into your moisturizer may reduce acne.
When you use black seed oil on your skin, though, apply it to a test spot first. This lets you find out if you’ll have an allergic reaction because you apply it to your entire face.
10. Fewer Psoriasis Symptoms
While psoriasis is a chronic condition, the symptoms like psoriasis plaques come and go. In some patients, black seed oil can reduce how often these plaques appear.
11. Reduction in Nasal Allergy Symptoms
Nasal allergies can make entire seasons uncomfortable. The congestion, itching, runny nose, and sneezing may improve with black seed oil, though.
12. Reduces Triglycerides
We’ve already talked about how important cholesterol is to heart health. Another important marker is your triglyceride level: the amount of fat in your blood.
In people with borderline high cholesterol, black seed oil has been shown to lower their triglycerides.
13. More Hydrated Skin
One of the fastest way to help your skin look better is to hydrate it. Moisturized skin shows fewer wrinkles and it’s also less itchy and uncomfortable. Fortunately, black seed oil can be a helpful way to hydrate your skin.
14. Faster Wound Healing
The faster your body heals injuries, the lower your risk of an infection. Faster wound healing could keep scarring to a minimum as well.
There is evidence that black seed oil may accelerate wound healing by reducing inflammation and using growth factors to help you produce new skin.
15. Better Male Fertility
For men who want to have children, there are a number of ways to improve fertility. Black seed oil, for instance, may be able to improve sperm count as well as sperm motility.
16. Lower Blood Pressure
High blood pressure can harden your arteries over time and lead to serious complications. While many patients with high blood pressure need medications, those with a mild elevation might be able to improve their pressure with black seed oil.
17. Better-Looking Hair
Not all the benefits of black seed oil are related to health. In some cases, it helps you look great as well. Black seed oil on your hair can enhance your shine and make your hair softer.
18. Less Breast Pain
Breast soreness is one of many common symptoms during a woman’s menstrual cycle. There is evidence that if you apply black seed oil to sore breasts, it can reduce pain.
Keep in mind that breast pain outside of your normal menstrual symptoms can be a sign of other problems. If you start noticing breast pain more often or if it changes in any way, talk to your doctor.
19. Fewer Complications from Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is a combination of obesity-related illnesses, and it’s a common but unfortunate condition. The good news is that black seed oil may be able to reduce some of these problems. In particular, it can lower your bad cholesterol and lower your blood sugar.
20. Fewer Eczema Symptoms
Eczema is a common skin condition that leads to dry, itchy skin. Black seed oil may be able to keep your symptoms to a minimum. It’s interesting to note, though, that these benefits come from taking the oil by mouth, not applying it to your skin.
21. Reduction in Hashimoto’s Disease
This condition, also known as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, causes your immune system to attack your thyroid gland. This leads to limited thyroid function, which can cause a variety of problems.
The good news is that certain measures of thyroid function show improvement in patients who take black seed oil.
22. Nasal Dryness
As people get older, it’s common to have uncomfortable nasal dryness. When it’s applied to the nose as a spray, black seed oil may be able to make the nose less dry and more comfortable.
23. Less Pain from Osteoarthritis
We mentioned above that black seed oil can reduce the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. It’s important to note that osteoarthritis is a different form of joint inflammation. However, black seed oil may be able to help this condition as well.
When it comes to osteoporosis, applying black seed oil to the painful joint may be able to keep pain at bay.
Who Shouldn’t Take Black Seed Oil?
The list of benefits from black seed oil goes on and on, and the examples above are a small fraction of it. Medical researchers are on the constant hunt for ways black seed oil and other natural supplements can improve your health.
Of course, as with any supplement as well as medications, there are some situations in which black seed oil won’t help. It can interact with certain conditions and medications in an unsafe way.
In particular, people with a bleeding disorder shouldn’t take black seed oil. For the same reason, you shouldn’t take black seed oil if you’re taking any medications that affect your blood clotting process.
People with liver disease or kidney disease may not be able to take black seed oil. The same goes for women who are pregnant or who are planning to become pregnant.
In general, anyone who has a medical condition or takes medications should check with their doctor to make sure black seed oil won’t cause an unsafe interaction. This is true for all natural supplements.
How Can I Start Benefiting from Black Seed Oil?
There are plenty of reasons to add black seed oil to your health regimen: 23 and counting, in fact.
If you’re ready to start reaping the benefits, shop for black seed oil online.