Nigella Sativa, also known as “black seed,” is experiencing a boom in popularity as the number of scientific studies affirming its long-supposed benefits are coming to light. Now, a remarkable case study stands to add “HIV treatment” to its list of potential benefits.
The study, published in the African Journal of Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine, tells the story of an HIV patient who went into complete remission after black seed treatment.
As GreenMedInfo reports, the patient was treated with Nigella sativa for a period of six months, after which there was no detectable HIV virus or antibodies against HIV in his bloodstream. Further, the HIV stayed gone.
The study abstract explains that the patient, who saw an herbalist, was suffering with symptoms common in HIV, including chronic fever, weight loss, lesions, and diarrhea. But the black seed treatment had impressive and near-immediate results.
“The patient was commenced on Nigella sativa concoction 10 mls twice daily for 6 months.. He was contacted daily to monitor side-effects and drug efficacy. Fever, diarrhoea and multiple pruritic lesions disappeared on 5th, 7th and 20th day respectively on Nigella sativa therapy. “
On the 187th day, HIV tests came back negative. Further, 24 months after the therapy was stopped, the tests remained negative for HIV and HIV antibodies.
Read: The Houseplant that Helps Stop the Spread of HIV/AIDS
Generally, HIV is treated with highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART). This conventional therapy is controversial because the side-effects are often far worse than the viral symptoms to begin with. There are indications that the treatment, and not the HIV virus at all, can be blamed for many HIV-credited fatalities.
“This case report reflects the fact that there are possible therapeutic agents in Nigella sativa that may effectively control HIV infection,” concluded the study authors, adding HIV treatment to the long list of potential black seed benefits.
As I reported a few months ago on the benefits of black seed (Part I and Part II), the seed has been used for centuries as a healing remedy. A few of the known benefits include treatment of:
- Various type of cancer
- Epilepsy
- Type 2 diabetes
- MRSA
- Brain damage from lead
- Asthma
- Radiation damage
- High blood pressure
Nigella sativa can be found online and in health stores under the names black seed and occasionally black cumin. However, because “black cumin” is a common name applied to a completely different seed, make sure the product is labeled as Nigella sativa.
