Top » Medicine & Health

No More Steroids?

While searching the web for information on natural products for my daughter's asthma, I kept running across info referring to something called black seed, which, according to claims, contains 2 active ingredients: nigellone and thymoquinone. These are responsible for black seed's brocho-dilating (relaxes and opens breathing passageways) and secretion-dissolving (loosening mucous) effects, making it a side-effect-free, natural alternative for all types of disorders of the respiratory tract, such as asthma. Most of the sites I found were, however, very commercially-hyped and made me leary. I wanted research and more evidence than "believed to be." My persistent search led me to the website of Kesseli Lab, Department of Biology at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Here, I connected with the research collected by Fatimah Abdul-Basir on black seed, where I was delighted to find confirmation. Mr. Abdul-Basir's site contains botanical information, history, uses, chemical analysis, cultivation information and references to scientific studies (some of which are on the Internet). My next step is check with our local health food store--proof is in the puddin'.

Tue, 16 Nov 1999 13:35:03 -0800