Cumin Seed

CUMIN SEED  – Nutritional Profile

As a spice, a nutritional profile might not necessarily spring to mind however there are surprisingly high amounts of key nutrients within the complex nutritional profile that cumin actually has.

A single teaspoon full of cumin seeds will provide 15% of the recommended daily allowance of iron, 7% of the RDA for manganese and 4% for both calcium and magnesium each.

A single teaspoon of 4.2 grams will provide 16 calories, 0.75g of protein, 1.86 of carbohydrates and 0.44mg of dietary fibre. In addition the same teaspoon contains  1% of the RDA of fats.

Cumin seeds have a complex assortment of vitamins including thiamin (vit B1, 0.03mg) riboflavin (vit B2, 0.01mg) and Niacin (vit B3 0.19mg).  Alongside these vitamin c is also present (0.32mg).

Nutritionally cumin is very complex containing calcium (39mg), copper (0.04mg), iron (2.79.mg), magnesium (15.37mg), manganese (0.014mg), potassium (75mg), phosphorus (21mg) and zinc (0.2mg)

CUMIN SEED  – Health Benefits

With its complex nutritional composition cumin has a number of important health benefits.

The high levels of iron present in cumin seeds provide a key ingredient for the maintenance of healthy blood and a robust immune system.  Iron is a key part of the haemoglobin that transports oxygen from the lungs to every cell in the body which makes it very important for pregnant women and those who have recently undergone surgical procedures.

Cumin has a long standing reputation for its beneficial effects on the digestive system. And recent research projects appear to be bearing this out.  Early research indicates that cumin stimulates enzymes in the pancreas that are necessary for proper digestion and absorbing maximum   nutrition.

There is also current research which indicates that cumin seeds may also have anti-carcinogenic properties.  Cumin appears to be capable of attracting free radicals which cause inflammation and may lead to the abnormalities that generate cancer at an individual cell level.

Much research into the health benefits of cumin is at an early stage but key areas of interest are;

  • The relationship between cumin and AGE (advanced glycation end products) and their impact on the progression of diabetes as a disease within rats with diabetes
  • The potential ability of cumin to stave of eye problems with diabetics as recently observed with diabetic rats and the rate of cataract occurrence
  • The potential for oral doses of cumin to boost compromised immune systems in laboratory rats
  • The potential for cumin extracts to reverse osteoporotic effects in laboratory rats

CUMIN SEED  – Product History

Cumin seeds are the dried seed of a herbaceous plant that is part of the parsley family.  The plant is native across the area from the eastern Mediterranean to the Indian sub-continent.  The seed from the plant (Cuminum cyminum) is harvested annually from the plant that grown up to 50cm tall.  Once harvested the seeds are simply dried before being sold in vast quantities across the world.  It is similar in appearance to the caraway seed but has a hotter, less sweet taste that makes it an ideal savoury spice.