Allergic reactions to food often involve the gastrointestinal tract, promoting vomiting and diarrhea. While avoiding allergens prevents these symptoms, it can lead to nutritional deficiencies, especially in children. Alternative therapeutical approaches might be therefore useful.

Swantje C. Duncker and colleagues, Nestlè Research Center, Lausanne, Switzerland, discovered that hexanic extracts of Nigella sativa, also known as black cumin, ameliorate symptoms and immune parameters in a murine model of ovalbumin-induced allergic diarrhea. These effects are, at least partially, due to the activation of opioid receptor signaling by thymoquinone, a quinolone contained in Nigella sativa seeds.

Patients suffering from allergic diarrhea might therefore benefit from black cumin extracts or pharmaceutical therapies targeting opioid receptors.

• Nigella sativa (Black Cumin) Seed Extract Alleviates Symptoms of Allergic Diarrhea in Mice, Involving Opioid Receptors,
  S. C. Duncker, D. Philippe, C. Martin-Paschoud, M. Moser, A. Mercenier, S. Nutten,
  PLoS One 2012, 7(6), e39841.
  DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039841