History and traditional uses of black seeds (Nigella sativa)

Nigella sativa is an Asian Middle Eastern native angiosperm belonging to the Ranunculaceae family. Even before the advent of modern medicine, this miracle herb was being used in folkloric traditional medicine across the globe for treatments of all kinds of ailments and diseases. Ancient medicinal traditions, unlike modern allopathic medicine observed health of an individual in a holistic manner as a culmination of mind, body, soul, and nature. This plant has been mentioned in the written traditional medicinal texts of major civilizations like the Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Greek-Roman, Malay, Tibb-e-Nabwi, and Jewish texts. Black cumin and black seed are other alternate names of Nigella seeds and have been extensively used as medicines in all Abrahamic cultures. It has ample eminence that apart from death, black seed is deemed as the cure for all ailments. It has been extensively utilized for the treatment of liver, lung, kidney, gastric, and psychological disorders. Extensive research on N. sativa has revealed a broad spectrum of pharmacological properties comprising anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, analgesic, spasmolytic, reproprotection, hepatoprotection, bronchodilaton, nephroprotection, and contraception. Endowed with such miraculous healing power this black pearl has been placed among the top ranked evidence-based medicines by pharmacologists and medical practitioners. It has also been revealed that different fractions of Nigella extract exert different actions and can produce a wide array of pharmacological actions, if chosen properly, for the cure of specific diseases and maintenance of general health. The primary constituent of Nigella extract is thymoquinone. This chapter is an effort to embody the enormous ancient and modern medicinal literature into a clear concise script for researchers to understand the pharmacological characteristics, actions, and chemical conformation of N. sativa, “the miracle herb.”