Black Sesame/Hēi Zhī Má 黑芝麻

A 2025 GRADE-assessed meta-analysis pooled 13 trials (731 participants, 6–12 weeks) of sesame products in people with diabetes. Research suggests sesame supplementation was associated with lower fasting glucose, HbA1c, LDL and total cholesterol and triglycerides, and higher antioxidant enzyme activity. The authors frame sesame as a possible complementary dietary measure, not a replacement for treatment.

In a small Thai trial, 30 adults with prehypertension took 2.52 g of black sesame meal capsules or placebo daily for four weeks. The black sesame group showed a modest fall in systolic blood pressure, lower malondialdehyde (an oxidative-stress marker) and higher vitamin E levels. The authors described these as possible antihypertensive effects needing confirmation in larger studies.

A 2020 review summarised in-vitro and animal evidence on sesamin, the main lignan in sesame seeds and oil. It noted reported anti-hypertensive, anti-atherogenic, anti-thrombotic, anti-diabetic and lipid-lowering effects, linked mainly to antioxidant and anti-inflammatory signalling (NF-κB, PI3K/AKT, MAPK). The authors considered sesamin a candidate adjunct for cardiovascular risk, pending clinical trials.

A 2018 metabolomics study compared black and white sesame seeds, profiling 557 metabolites and identifying 217. Black seeds differed mainly in phenylpropanoid, tyrosine and riboflavin pathways, and the researchers noted that the compounds enriched in black sesame appear to relate to the functions traditionally ascribed to it in Chinese medicine, offering a chemical rationale for the black-over-white preference.