Nigella sativa (Black Cumin) Seed: A Natural Source of Antioxidant and Antiproliferative Agent

Medicinal plants seem to be viable alternatives with low cost and easy availability to employ in treating patients with illnesses over the most used pharmaceutical drugs due to their indiscriminate and immoderate use and their price, side effects, and interactions. Many effective anticancer medications have been discovered by modern scientific studies on plants those utilized traditionally in folk medicine. Modern science has now uncovered the secret to why black seed is such a remarkable plant for curing diseases. Starting in the 1950s or thereabouts, researchers have begun establishing the miraculous seed’s true medical value. Many subsequent investigations have shown that Nigella sativa seed and its oil have been used for over 2000 years as a traditional medicine to treat and prevent illness. The major quinone component of the seed, thymoquinone, is as well known for its activities against various disease problems, especially cancer, and is active on numerous body parts (such as the brain, kidney, liver, heart, intestine, and skeletal muscles) as other crucial drugs currently available. In this chapter, we will discuss the pharmacotherapy and how N. sativa may be used in different disease conditions, why it is so important, and how the active substances in this seed can have a positive impact toward their antioxidant and anticancer properties with mechanisms.