Black seed or Nigella Sativa, also known as black cumin seed is one of the most beneficial naturally occurring elements. Research suggests that there are very few issues that black cumin seeds cannot cure. It has marvelous healing properties and has been consumed for its quirky flavor for thousands of years. If you have heard of its properties, you probably want to include it in your child’s diet. However, black cumin seeds are pretty obscure and not a staple in many cuisines, so chances are you don’t exactly know much about them. We’re here to help you with a detailed overview of black cumin seeds or black seed oil and the benefits they could have for your child.
7 Amazing Health Benefits of Black Seed Oil
Helps fight cancer
Thanks to its potent phytochemicals and antioxidant capabilities, black seed oil has been shown to help naturally treat cancer. Croatian scientists evaluated the antitumor activity of thymoquinone and thymohydroquinone using an animal model study and discovered that these two phytochemicals found in black seed oil resulted in a 52 percent decrease in tumor cells. Making black seed oil a part of your child’s diet would also impede the growth of any malignant tumour cells that are already present. It can also prevent cancerous growths.
Promotes liver health
Adding black seed oil early on in your child’s diet can be extremely helpful to boost proper functioning of the liver and keeping the organ functioning and healthy for a longer period of time. After eyes, the most vital organ is the liver. The bile produced in the liver helps to digest all the food particles including fats as well. There is hardly any toxin that does not pass through the liver. In fact, it is because of the proper function of this organ that one enjoys a fit and active life. Therefore, it is important to add black seed oil to your child’s diet, in order to ensure a healthy liver.
Helps fight diabetes
Diabetes is a growing concern, especially for young children. Adding black seed oil to your child’s diet helps to promote glucose tolerance, thus lessening their risk of getting diabetes. Explained in a recent article published by the Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, researchers from the Indian Council of Medical Research highlight that black seed oil “causes gradual partial regeneration of pancreatic beta-cells, increases the lowered serum insulin concentrations and decreases the elevated serum glucose.” Black seed oil is one of the few substances in the world which helps to prevent both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Therefore, if your child is at risk for diabetes due to obesity or genetic factors, you must include black seed oil in his/her diet.
Promotes good skin
Black seed oil has tremendous moisturizing properties. A large number of children suffer from dry skin, therefore, black seed oil can prove particularly helpful here. If your child has extremely dry skin, you can start adding a black oil supplement to his/her diet: that will restore the skin to its natural sheen and moisture and will give him/her a healthy and glowing skin within just a few weeks.
Aids in weight loss
This particular benefit must seem very attractive for not just your child but to you too. Studies have found black seed oil to have properties that aid in weight loss. Since more and more children and teens today are combating unhealthy weight and obesity, adding black seed oil to your child’s diet can help maintain a healthy weight. clinical trials that reveal the ability of a black seed supplement to help lower body weight. Supplementation was also shown to decrease body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference.
Promotes hair health
Who doesn’t want to see beautiful and lush tresses on their child’s head? Black seed oil can help you with that. In addition to being such a great skincare option, black seed oil can help ensure that your child’s hair remains healthy and flowing, always. Adding black seed oil to your child’s hair can help to boost scalp and hair health. Since it contains nigellone,it may help with hair loss due to androgenic alopecia or alopecia areata. With its antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, it can also help the health of the scalp in general, discouraging dandruff and dryness, and improve hair health at the same time.
Helps balance cholesterol levels
This is a serious benefit of black seed oil. We all know how bad high blood cholesterol is. It is not something to be taken lightly. Unfortunately, cholesterol has now become a concern for health of children, with all the junk food and the sedentary lifestyle they are increasingly leading. Black seed oil extracts have been seen to cause a significant drop in both total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. So overall, it appears that black seed may help lower cholesterol as well as blood sugar and blood pressure.
How to make black seed oil (at home)?
Here is a step by step guide as to how to make black seed oil at home
Step 1
For making oil at home, you need to buy an oil press machine. At home oil press machines can press oil from seeds and nuts with high fat content. Black seeds or Kalonji seeds are 35 percent oil and fats, which makes them ideal for pressing by this method.
Step 2
Clean the seeds to rid them of all dirt and impurities and dry them thoroughly.
Step 3
Clean the machine thoroughly to ensure that no contaminants from previous oil pressings get into the oil.
Step 4
Set up a place at your home where you will be pressing the oil. Assemble all components in the machine and follow instructions as to where to put the seeds. Place the oil bottle in its designated area, and position a small container to gather the waste that will be generated from seeds as the oil is pressed.
Step 5
Allow the machine to heat up before using, according to the manufacturer’s directions.
Step 6
Place the correct amount of seeds into the funnel of the oil press. Turn the machine on. Do not take more than the right amount according to the size of your machine.
Step 7
Observe the machine. The oil takes time to get pressed and collected in the container. Therefore, you must remain patient. As long as waste is being collected in the other container, you know that the oil is being pressed, even if the progress looks slow.
Step 8
Continue feeding seeds into the funnel until the oil container is full.
Step 9
Leave the oil to sit in a warm, dry place. Allow any remnants to settle to the bottom of the bottle and strain out the pure oil.
Potential Side Effects
We know what you’re thinking – something that is so tremendously beneficial in so many different fields must have some side effects too, right?
There isn’t much known about the long-term effects of using black seed oil in large quantities. There’s some evidence that applying black seed oil directly to the skin may cause an allergic skin rash (known as allergic contact dermatitis) in some individuals. Black seed oil may slow blood clotting and increase the risk of bleeding. If someone has a bleeding disorder or is under medication that affects blood clotting, black seed oil isn’t for them. Apart from this, there haven’t been many reports about the side effects of black seed oil. Of course, when taken in large quantities, it may prove quite challenging for the body, but in the normal quantities such as the amount found in normal food, it is not harmful at all.
Conclusion
Black seed oil is undeniably helpful to the human body and its processes. You must add some of it in your child’s diet to make sure they can reap the benefits of the miraculous black seed. However, always administer it in moderate amounts, since too much of anything can be bad. Additionally, be careful about any allergies that your child may have to black seed and its products. Consult a physician before proceeding to give any black seed oil supplements for your child.
Hope this article was of help to all our parents!! Please share your comments/queries/tips with us and help us create a world full of Happy and Healthy Babies!!
References
http://www.jofem.org/index.php/jofem/article/viewArticle/15/15
https://draxe.com/black-seed-oil-benefits/
