BlaQmax, a black cumin extract produced by Akay Natural Ingredients, can provide benefits as a sleep aid and stress reliever, according to recent research done at the Aman Hospital and Research Centre in India. “Our scientists were successful in the extraction of the key bioactive composition of black cumin having neuroprotective effects and benefit on stress and sleep-disorders for the first time and won the patented claim “a composition to treat stress, anxiety and sleep disorders without affecting memory,“ said Dr Balu Maliakel, MD of Akay.
The trial was done by researchers from the Neuroscience department at Cochin University of Science & Technology, Rajagiri School of Social sciences, the School of Pharmacy Mahatma Gandhi University and Aman Hospital. Participants were given a 200 mg dose of the ingredient once per day for 28 days, after which their sleeping patterns were analysed according to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. A 30% increase in REM, or deep, sleep was observed, along with significant improvements in the quality of sleep, without any safety or tolerance issues. In total, around 80% of participants reported improvement in sleep quality, sleep efficiency and a reduction in sleep latency,
Additionally, the participants’ evening cortisol level, a biomarker of insomnia, also significantly reduced with supplementation. This result suggests the ingredient can influence the Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenalin (HPA) axis to control stress and hence to modulate sleep, Akay says.
“Nigella sativa (Black cumin) is well known for its various therapeutic properties, like immunity, respiratory health, anti-inflammatory effect, metabolic health etc. We are inspired by the results and completed multiple clinical trials following the double-blinded placebo-controlled randomised design, and are about to be published with more encouraging results,” said Dr Krishnakumar, Chief Research Officer, Akay.
The clinical study was published in Journal of Herbal Medicine and more specific studies are ongoing, the company says.
