Herb library · Spice · Cuminum cyminum
Cumin
The warm, earthy seed behind curry powders, chili and many Middle Eastern and Mexican dishes. Small trials of cumin supplements suggest modest drops in blood sugar and triglycerides; the reviewers call for larger, better studies. As a kitchen spice it is recognized as safe.
Traditional use
One of the oldest spices, used in Egypt, the Greek and Roman world, Persia, India and China. The Sushruta Samhita, in Bhishagratna's 1907 translation, classes jiraka as pungent and heating, a seasoning that sharpens the appetite and raises pitta while lowering vata and kapha. Nineteenth-century Indian sources record it as an essential ingredient of curry powders and as a digestive given for diarrhea and indigestion; it has also been used in India, Pakistan and Türkiye to increase breast milk. Today cumin extracts and capsules are sold for blood sugar, cholesterol and weight.
Traditional energetics
Galenic (hot or cold, dry or moist)
Hot and dry in the third degree. Culpeper's Complete Herbal (1814), p. 269 (opens in a new tab)
Ayurveda
Taste (rasa): pungent; potency (virya): heating; after digestion (vipaka): pungent; in dosha theory it balances vata and kapha and may aggravate pitta. An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita, vol. 1 (1907), Sutrasthanam, ch. XLVI, p. 511 (opens in a new tab)
What studies show
- Limited
Blood sugar: two meta-analyses of eight to nine small randomized trials (2021, 2026) found lower fasting blood sugar and HbA1c with cumin supplements; the results varied widely between studies, and the authors call for larger, high-quality trials.
- Limited
Cholesterol and weight: a 2022 meta-analysis of eight trials found small drops in total cholesterol and body mass index, with no clear effect on LDL cholesterol; a 2026 review found lower triglycerides and waist size. Further high-quality studies are needed to confirm these.
- Insufficient
Breast milk: LactMed notes some literature support for its traditional use to increase milk supply, but no data on its passage into breast milk or its safety for nursing infants.
Be careful of
Cautions
- NoteCumin is "generally recognized as safe" by the FDA as a spice and flavoring, and is generally well tolerated (LactMed). The trials used capsules and extracts, in amounts larger than cooking uses.
- AllergyPeople allergic to cumin or related plants in the carrot family should avoid it (LactMed); a case of anaphylaxis from cumin has been reported. Contact with cumin oil has caused occasional light-triggered (phototoxic) skin reactions.
- AllergyBeginning in 2014, more than 675 products were recalled in the United States because cumin used to make them contained undeclared peanut; later testing also found almond and other contaminants.
- InteractionCumin supplements may lower blood sugar; tell your clinician if you take medicine for diabetes.
- PregnancyLactMed has no data on cumin's safety for nursing infants. No pregnancy safety information was found in the sources used here beyond food amounts.
- Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.
From the old books
What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.
“The Jiraka (whether white or yellow) is sharp and heat-making in its potency, pungent in digestion and imparts a relish to food. It has a pungent taste, is appetising and aromatic, increases the Pittam, and destroys the Váyu and Kapham.”
“The use of cumin as a spice and medicine is of the highest antiquity, and appears to have spread from the cradle of civilization in Egypt to Arabia, Persia, India and China.”
“Cummin seed, heat, bind, and dry, stop blood, expel wind, ease pain, help the bitings of venomous beast: outwardly applied (viz. in Plaisters) they are of a discussing nature.”
In scripture
Where the Bible names this plant, and which plant scholars think is meant.
For the dill isn’t threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the cumin with a rod.
Cumin (Cuminum cyminum), the spice on this page, which is not disputed. Tristram (1898) notes that its small seeds were beaten out with a rod rather than threshed, as the verse says. H. B. Tristram, The Natural History of the Bible (1898), p. 443 (opens in a new tab)
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.
Cumin (Cuminum cyminum), the spice on this page. Tristram (1898) counts it among the small garden herbs whose tithe the Pharisees were careful to pay. H. B. Tristram, The Natural History of the Bible (1898), p. 443 (opens in a new tab)
Sources
- Cumin — Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed), PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- The effects of Cuminum cyminum on glycemic parameters: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials (J Ethnopharmacol, 2021) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Efficacy of Cuminum cyminum supplementation on lipid profile and anthropometric parameters: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials (Phytother Res, 2022) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Potential benefits of Cuminum cyminum L supplementation on components of metabolic syndrome in adults with metabolic disorders (Front Nutr, 2026) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Cumin anaphylaxis: a case report (J Allergy Clin Immunol, 1997) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Presence of undeclared food allergens in cumin: the need for multiplex methods (J Agric Food Chem, 2016) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
Reviewed September 25, 2026.