Table 13.5 Health benefits of bioactive constituents of Nigella seeds bioactive constituents
Bioactive
component
Health effects
Reference
Ether extract
Antibacterial effects (Gram +ve and
Àve) both
Hanafy and Hatem (1991)
Methanolic, aqueous, chloroform
extract and oil
Antibacterial effects (Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli)
El-Nagerabia et al. (2012); Sunita
and Meenakshi (2013)
Ethanolic extract
Antibacterial effect (Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant)
Hannan et al. (2008)
Thymoquinone
(TQ) and
thymohydroquinone
(THQ)
Antibacterial activity against
E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa;
Staphylococcus aureus; Shigella
flexneri; Sal. Typhimurium, Salmonella enteritidis
Halawani (2009)
Aqueous extract
Antifungal activity (Candida
albicans)
Develi et al. (2014); Suguna et al.
(2013)
Oil
Antifungal activity (Aspergillus
flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus)
on the production of aflatoxin,
Chrysosporium evolceanui;
Chrysosporium tropicum;
Trichophyton simii; Trichophyton
rubrum, and Microsporum
gypseum
Bita et al. (2012); Aljabre et al.
(2005); Halamova et al. (2010)
TQ
Candida albicans
Nadaf et al. (2015); Aljabre et al.
(2015)
Nanoparticles
Effective against lung cancer
Manju et al. (2016)
TQ
Brest cancer; anti-colon cancer
activity
Woo et al. (2011); Salim (2010)
TQ
Polycystic ovary remedy
Arif et al. (2016)
TQ
Inhibition of induced superoxide
production (antioxidant activity)
Boudiaf et al. (2016)
TQ
Antiangiogenic activity (positive
effects in osteosarcoma)
Peng et al. (2013)
Ethanolic extract
(seeds)
Nephroprotective activity
Canayakin et al. (2016); Saleem
et al. (2012); Ulu et al. (2012);
Abul-Nasr et al. (2001); Ali (2004)
TQ
Anticancer activity
Khalife et al. (2016)
Oil and TQ
Oral health
Al-Attass et al. (2016)
Oil and seed extract Anti-schistosomiasis activity
Mohamed et al. (2005); Shenawy
et al. (2008); Umar et al. (2012)
Nigella seeds and oil Antidiabetic activity and cardiac
protective activity
Salama (2011); Abdelmeguid et al.
(2010); Kanter et al. (2009); Pari
and Sankaranarayanan (2009)
TQ
Antidiabetic activity
Najmi et al. (2008)
Nigella seeds
Antidiabetic activity (in human)
Bamosa et al. (2010)
TQ
Anticancer and infectious disease;
effective against pancreatic cancer
Torres et al. (2010)
(continued)
340
P. Sharma and T. Longvah