Black Seed Oil Review

How Products Were Selected:

Selected products represent those commonly sold and/or available in the U.S. ConsumerLab.com purchased products on the open market through retail stores, on-line retailers or direct sales companies. Products were not accepted directly from manufacturers.

Testing Methods:

1. Amounts of total fatty acids including omega-6 linoleic acid, omega-9 oleic acid and palmitic acid, as a percentage of total fatty acids by Gas Chromatography (GC) utilizing a modified AOAC (Association of Official Analytical Chemists, International) Official Method 991.39.
2. Peroxide levels (which indicate spoilage) for free-flowing oils only, using AOCS (American Oil Chemists Society) Methods CD 8-53 & 12-57.
3. Thymoquinone by high performance liquid chromatography.
4. Lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury using ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy) for all products.

ConsumerLab.com may modify or use other appropriate test methods if necessary to test special product formulations.

The identities of the products were not disclosed to the laboratories performing the testing.

Passing Score:*

To be "Approved" by ConsumerLab.com a product must meet the following requirements:

1. Contain at least 100% and no more than 150% of its claimed amount of linoleic acid, oleic acid and palmitic acid including any other claimed fatty acids, unless a naturally occurring component (i.e., not isolated or made synthetically) of an oil, in which case it must be present at 80% to 150% of the listed amount. For products with no claimed amount of specific fatty acids, at a minimum, product must contain 50% linoleic acid, 20% oleic acid and 10% palmitic acid (% wt/wt of total fatty acids) (USP-DSC 2024).
2. Contain at least 100% and no more than 150% of its claimed amount of thymoquinone. If no amount is claimed, product must contain a minimum of 0.5% thymoquinone (5 mg per mL of oil).
3. Heavy Metals: All products must not exceed the following limits:
   Lead:
   • Products marketed for use by children under 12 years of age may not exceed the State of California's Prop 65 limits for lead in dietary supplements of 0.5 mcg per recommended daily serving with an additional allowance of 0.8 mcg if the product contains more than 1,000 mg/day of calcium.
   • Products with a single serving weights of less than 5 grams that are not marketed for use by children under 12 years of age, may not exceed the State of California's Prop 65 limits for lead in dietary supplements of 0.5 mcg per recommended daily serving (above which a warning regarding reproductive harm, birth defects, or cancer risks is required in California) with an additional allowance of 0.4 mcg if containing 250-999 mg/day of any combination of elemental calcium, magnesium and potassium or 0.8 mcg if containing more than 1,000 mg/day of any combination of these minerals. An additional allowance of 0.5 mcg is provided if containing 250-999 mg/day of whole herb (not extract) or 1.0 mcg if containing 1000 mg/day or more of whole herb (not extract). However, total lead allowance must not exceed 2 mcg per daily serving.
   • Products with single serving weights of 5 grams or more that are not marketed for children under 12 years of age may not exceed 2.5 mcg per serving nor 4.0 mcg per daily serving.
   Arsenic:
   • Contain less than 10 micrograms of total arsenic per daily serving (based on Canada’s limit per daily serving of a natural health product, and U.S. EPA and state of New Jersey limit in 1 liter of water). Products found to exceed this amount were tested for inorganic arsenic and must not contain more than 2.1 micrograms of inorganic arsenic per daily serving (Canada's additional limit in natural health products).
   Cadmium:
   • If marketed for use by children under 12 years of age, may not exceed 3.0 micrograms of cadmium per recommended daily serving (based on Canada's limit for a child weighing 75lbs). If not marketed for use by children under 12 years of age, may not exceed 4.1 micrograms of cadmium per recommended daily serving (above which California's Prop 65 law requires a "reproductive harm" warning due to developmental toxicity and male reproductive harm.
   Mercury:
   • May not exceed 2 micrograms of inorganic mercury per daily serving (based on EPA limit for mercury in 1 liter of water).
4. Peroxide levels for free-flowing oils (not encapsulated or tableted): For refined oils <10 mEq/kg oil. For cold pressed and virgin oils <15 mEq/kg oil (Codex Standards for Fats and Oils from Vegetable Sources, 1999).
5. Be in compliance with FDA labeling requirements.

A "Pass" was based on meeting the above criteria in either the first or second round of testing.

* Passing scores allow for specific margins of technical error associated with each analysis. ConsumerLab.com reserves the right to disqualify a product at any time from passing its testing if it considers such product to display unacceptable variation, present a safety risk, or to provide misleading or inaccurate information in its labeling.