ARTICLE: How can Black Seed relieve side effects without slowing down cancer treatment?

Today , most cancers are treated with chemotherapy.

This chemo therapy gives very good results, up to total recovery in certain cases.

Unfortunately, it causes serious and often difficult side effects.

These side effects can cause fragility or mental decline which slows down the healing process. Oncology takes these inconveniences into account by directing patients towards sophrology, for example. Many scientific studies are being carried out to find solutions to reduce or even eliminate the undesirable effects of these heavy treatments.

Oncologists also take these adverse effects into account, which can slow down healing due to mental weakness. This is why more and more scientific studies are emerging, to find (and prove) a solution reducing the side effects of chemotherapy, without altering its effectiveness.

Nigella vegetable oil is one of the avenues explored; its properties will have a restorative action against the disruptive effects of anti-cancer treatments .

What are the unwanted side effects of chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy destroys tumor cells, but unfortunately it will also destroy healthy cells. These will divide quickly. And this will reach the digestive tract, the hair, as well as the cells of the bone marrow.

The kidney and liver are over-stressed during chemotherapy and are too often the organs most affected by this heavy treatment. These organs have vital functions:

The liver stores and distributes nutrients, removes toxic substances, synthesizes most blood proteins and produces bile.

As for the kidneys, they are used to filter and purify toxic substances, regulate output (urine and organic waste) and intake (drink, food).

In addition, drugs used in chemotherapy are often nephro and hepatotoxic: they are toxic to the kidneys and liver.

It is therefore essential to be able to relieve this side effect and protect the liver and kidneys. Thus, researchers have looked into the use of Nigella oil to counter these side effects of cancer treatment.

How can Nigella relieve these side effects without slowing down cancer treatment?

In 2016, Indian researchers studied the effect of Nigella ingestion on the nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity of a chemotherapy drug, Cisplatin. It is a platinum-based complex used in the treatment of sarcomas, carcinomas and lymphomas. Their study focused on 4 populations of rats:

1. The first, without treatment with Cysplatin or Nigella,
2. a second having received only Nigella ingestion,
3. a third having received only Cysplatin,
4. and finally the last population, having received both Nigella and Cysplatinum.

The results obtained are spectacular: they demonstrate that taking Nigella in addition to Cysplatin treatment considerably reduces its toxic action on the kidneys and liver! 

In fact, Nigella will reduce what we call oxidative stress : it is a factor of inflammation and cell mutation, therefore one of the factors of cancer.

Moreover, other studies, such as that carried out by Korean researchers (6), confirm that Nigella plays a role in combating this oxidative stress, this time induced by paracetamol.

In short, Nigella helps reduce the side effects due to chemotherapy, particularly on the liver and kidneys, but it also helps the effectiveness of this treatment by inactivating enzymes that produce free radicals. Nigella will therefore accelerate tissue repair by providing them with the necessary essential fatty acids. In addition, it prevents the disruptive effects of medications.

We must be clear: Nigella does not cure cancer! It will only help reduce the hepatotoxic (liver damage) and nephrotoxic (functional or structural renal alterations) effects linked to taking certain chemotherapy drugs. And that’s already not bad! So don’t hesitate to discuss it with your oncologist.