Therapeutic effects of black seed oil supplementation on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients: A randomized controlled double blind clinical trial

Abstract

This study sought to examine whether supplementation of Black Seed Oil (BSO) can improve pulmonary function tests (PFTs), inflammation, and oxidant-antioxidant markers in COPD patients. The study involved 100 patients of mild to moderate COPD divided randomly into 2 groups who were appointed to receive standard medication only ( control group ) or with additional Black Seed Oil ( BSO group ). They were assessed initially and after 3 months, 44 patients responded in control group and 47 patients in BSO group. BSO group evidenced a significant decreasing in oxidant and inflammatory markers; thiobarbituric acid reactive-substances (TBARS), protein carbonyl (PC) content, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), a significant increase in antioxidants; superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), vitamin C, and E, and a significant improvement in PFTs versus control group and baseline levels. Supplementation of Black Seed Oil may be an effective adjunct therapy to improve pulmonary functions, inflammation, and oxidant-antioxidant imbalance in COPD patients.

Role of Nigella sativa Extract in Reducing the Inflammatory Damage in Oral Submucous Fibrosis – A Review

“…The results of this trial showed statistically significant increase in the values of pulmonary function tests in comparison to the control group. IL-6 and TNF-α levels were also found to be decreased significantly in participants of BSO group when compared to the control group after the completion of the trial 40 .…”

Effects of Nutritional Interventions in Individuals with Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

“…28 Ingestion of coldpressed black seed oil daily for twelve weeks significantly reduced plasma levels of TNF-α (I: −35%, C: −22%, p <0.001) and IL-6 (I: 38%, C: 28%, p = nr). 25 Daily supplementation with protein bars for nine weeks showed a tendency toward treatment effect on plasma CRP (Δ mean: 3.9, p=0.14). 19 No significant effect was found on blood lymphocyte count after eight weeks of daily nutritional supplementation.…”

“…Extracted data are summarized in Table 2 (and an extended version is included as a Supplementary File: Table S2). The following interventions were studied in the included trials: protein supplementation, 19 beetroot juice, [20][21][22] increased fruit and vegetable intake, 23,24 black seed oil, 25 Tualang honey, 26 Chlorella vulgaris extract, 27 whey-peptide containing nutritional drink, 28 and finally increased macronutrient intake. [29][30][31] All participants were adults with COPD, mostly aged 40 years and above.…”

“…Five studies included physical activity interventions, although participants in the intervention groups and control groups were treated equally except differences in nutritional interventions. 19,22,28,29,31 Using the Cochrane risk of bias tool, in terms of risk of bias and quality, five studies were classified as poor, 19,21,25,27,28 five were classified as fair, 23,24,26,29,31 and three were classified as good 20,22,30 (Supplementary Table S1). Examining all thirteen articles with bias assessment, nutritional interventions often have inherent challenges related to blinding.…”

“…24 A study on daily supplementation with 2-gram coldpressed black seed oil by Al-Azzawi et al also found significant improvements in predicted values of FEV1 (I: +11%, C: +5%, p<0.001), forced vital capacity (FVC, I: +10%, C: +3%, p=0.002) and FEV1/FVC (I: +12%, C: +6%, p=0.001) after twelve weeks. 25 Six trials found no significant effect of nutritional interventions on pulmonary function parameters; two of which focused on nitrate-rich beetroot juice for one and two weeks, 20,21 one on Chlorella Vulgaris extract for eight weeks, 27 one on Tualang honey for 6 months, 26 one on increased fruit and vegetable consumption for twelve weeks, 23 and finally one on powdered nutritional supplement for eight weeks. 30…”