Sesame: benefits, side effects, nutrition facts and dosage

Antioxidants are important foods that protect your body against oxidative stress and damage from the harmful activity of free radicals, generated as a consequence of several body mechanisms.

Studies have found that sesame seeds have significant antioxidant effects, as apparent from its activity against oxidative stress. This can be attributed to the presence of lignans and other bioactive compounds in these seeds. Sesamin and sesamolin are two particular lignans, which have been found to demonstrate defence activity against reactive oxygen species. They also helped to increase the quality of sesame seed oil.

These studies suggest that its antioxidant activities can facilitate the prevention of several diseases due to its free radical scavenging actions. Thus, it can be ascertained that sesame can be a healthy inclusion in your diet due to its protective activities.

As discussed above, sesame seeds are packed with a great deal of antioxidants, which does not only make it effective in the prevention of several diseases, but also excellent for your skin.

The inclusion of sesame seeds in your diet will help to abolish early signs of ageing like fine lines, wrinkles and dark spots, which are caused mainly due to excessive free radical activity.

In addition to free radical scavenging actions, there are several other mechanisms by which these seeds are good for your skin. They contain high levels of vitamin E and fats, both of which have independent benefits for your skin. Studies have even found that the inclusion of sesame seeds in your diet increases the bioactivity and availability of vitamin E, thus improving its functions. Vitamin E is majorly responsible for photoprotection, that is, it protects your skin against damage from the harmful rays of the sun. In addition to this, vitamin E is also a great antioxidant and helps to reduce the number of reactive oxygen species leading to delayed ageing and its effects on body systems.

Further, fats help to improve the texture of your skin making it softer and smoother. Now you know what food to eat if you want that radiant, glowing skin.

Athletes often face a number of challenges in order to reach their maximal potential and performance, diet being a major one. So, how about the inclusion of a type of food that can actually improve exercise performance with its effects on your overall health? Yes, still talking about sesame.

Studies have found that the inclusion of sesame in the diet can help to improve aerobic exercise capacity in players and athletes. This it does by reducing the levels of oxidative stress in the body. Another effect is that it helps to minimise muscle damage and fatigue, thus, improving exercise performance. This was determinable with the help of a study conducted on male soccer players. The subjects who were fed with sesame had better performance as compared to those who were given a placebo during the study duration of 28 days.

Since the results of this addition are pretty quick, you may consider adding this food to your diet if you are an exercise fanatic.

Cholesterol is important for the synthesis of several hormones in the body and has other important functions. But, high cholesterol levels are detrimental for your cardiac health increasing the risk of cardiovascular disorders. So, it is important that you keep your cholesterol levels in check with the inclusion of healthy sources of fats like sesame seeds.

Animal-based studies have found that the administration of sesame seed powder significantly helped to lower cholesterol levels as marked by a reduction in LDL (low-density lipoprotein) or bad cholesterol and total cholesterol. What’s more is that it raised the levels of HDL (high-density lipoprotein) or good cholesterol, which has protective effects on your heart. This has been credited to its high antioxidant content along with the presence of several bioactive compounds in the seeds. Further, the presence of fibres and sterols have been considered to be responsible for these effects.

The possible mechanism of action is that it facilitates the excretion of cholesterol from the body while increasing the functions of antioxidant enzymes. While this study lacks human claims, it has generally been recognised that the inclusion of sesame seeds in the diet has a cholesterol-lowering effect. This is because it inhibits the absorption of cholesterol in the body. However, you must check in with your doctor for the correct dosage.

The inclusion of sesame seeds in your diet has a cardioprotective effect. Sesame takes care of some of the most important risk factors of cardiovascular disorders including high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Its cholesterol-lowering effect has already been discussed above and proving its hypotensive effects are several lab-based studies.

These studies suggest that the presence of the compound sesamin in sesame seeds is responsible for this action, which functions by increasing the concentration of nitric oxide in the body. Since it reduces blood pressure, it also has an anti-atherogenic effect and prevents the formation of atherosclerotic plaque. So, it can be determined that the inclusion of sesame in your diet can be good for the health of your heart.

(Read more: Atherosclerosis treatment)

Sesame seeds are not just good for your heart but also have several benefits on your brain due to their antioxidant actions. Studies on this plant have found that the compounds sesamin and sesamolin, which are naturally present in sesame are potentially neuroprotective. While its antioxidant actions may warrant protection against several neurodegenerative disorders related to ageing like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, particular evidence has been found for cerebral ischemia.

Cerebral ischemia refers to a condition in which there is insufficient flow of oxygen and glucose to the brain, which leads to the development of ischemic stroke causing the death of brain tissue. This has been attributed to the hypotensive effects of this seed, which caters to reduce thrombotic tendency and to the effects of sesame ingestion on the levels of nitric oxide in the body. This study found convincing results in the favour of sesame seed and oil, so, you can use it in any form to prevent ischemia.