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12.01.2022

Antiviral effect Nigella sativa protects covid patients

According to a small and methodologically imperfect study from Iraq, daily supplementation with a few grams of Nigella sativa can significantly reduce the severity of an infection with SARS-CoV2.

Nigella sativa
In the Arab world and Asian countries, traditional healers have been using the seeds and oil of the Nigella sativa plant as a medicine for centuries. An important active ingredient in the plant is probably thymoquinone.

Recent studies seem to confirm the traditional use of Nigella sativa. In animal studies, Nigella plant extracts mimic the action of insulin. This may explain why supplementing with two grams of oil from the seeds of this plant seems to improve body composition. [More]

In addition, Nigella sativa may have an antiviral effect. The component thymoquinone may inhibit the entry of viruses into cells.

Study
The researchers, who work as doctors in Kirkuk, Iraq, conducted an experiment in the fall of 2020 in which 419 Iraqis aged 13-93 with covid-19 acted as test subjects. 160 subjects chose the option of taking ground seeds of Nigella sativa every day for 2 weeks in addition to their regular treatment. So the subjects in this group knew they were getting Nigella. Such a study is called an open label study.

The dose was 40 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. If you weigh 70 kilos, this equates to 2800 milligrams per day.

Result
Covid-19 symptoms were mild in 94 percent of subjects in the Nigella sativa group, and symptoms were severe in 1 percent. In the control group this was 73 and 17 percent respectively.

No one died in the Nigella sativa group. In the control group, 5% of the subjects died.

Conclusion
"It can be concluded that Nigella sativa seeds have been proven as a safe and potent adjunctive therapeutic agent against COVID-19", summarize the Iraqis.

"[Nigella sativa] [...] reduces complications and prevents deaths. So, it is likely to lower the burden on health care systems in a significant manner."

Source:
Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, 15(3), 3393-9.

More:
Antiviral effect of Nigella sativa may protect covid patients 19.01.2021

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