At YamFest a Muslim gardener kindly gave me a bottle of the extracted oil, plus two bags of the seeds meant to be used as a spice...of course I have planted some. There are a GREAT many incredible anecdotal claims made about the health benefits, much like I saw in Colorado in the early 90s about crystals....vendors making incredible claims but offering ZERO empirical evidence. I posted about this issue on FaceBook when the claims popped up again, and my own efforts to Google studies yielded very little. But my remarkably brilliant young friend Timothy Lane turned his steely attention to the matter and posted on my wall this remarkably detailed study based on SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY vs. New Age woo woo...there is a LOT to absorb but it seems like it truly does have nutritional and medicinal value. Cellophane bags of the seeds are cheap at Indian markets. In Denver I grew the ornamental species Nigella damascena whose nibbled seeds reminded me and friends of watermelon. Both should do well here in central Florida as winter annuals is my guess. Thanks Timothy!!

http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/10825/1/IJNPR%201(4)%20409-429.pdf