(NaturalNews) -- Tell a mainstream medical doctor you are taking a herb, especially if it is for some condition Big Pharma has no treatment for, and odds are you'll be faced with warnings that herbs are unproven quackery at worst. And if you claim a traditional herbal cure is actually working, don't be surprised if you are told it is probably the placebo effect, i.e. all "in your head".

But when scientists actually investigate these natural remedies, they are frequently finding they contain powerful health building and disease-fighting properties that are nothing short of extraordinary. A case in point: bitter cumin.

A spice that flavors many Mexican, Tex-Mex, Thai, North African, Indian and Mediterranean dishes, it has also been used by traditional healers to treat maladies ranging from vitiligo (a condition causing the skin to lose pigment and develop large, sometimes disfiguring, white areas), and high blood sugar, to parasites and bacterial and viral infections. According to a new study just published in BioMedCentral's open access journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, research has backed up claims bitter cumin can reduce fever and relieve pain, too. And now a new study shows why it may have so many health benefits -- it contains high levels of potent antioxidants.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), usually simply known as free radicals, are created in the body as the result of normal metabolic processes -- but over-production of free radicals, or the body's inability to remove them, is known to contribute to the aging process and to causing diseases ranging from heart disease to cancer. Antioxidants clean up these free radicals and are thought to prevent disease and even slow down aging.

Using biochemical and biological analyses, researchers from the Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysore, India, have discovered seeds from bitter cumin (which is a member of the daisy family) are amazingly rich in phenolic antioxidants. The scientists announced in a statement to the media that bitter cumin extracts appear to offer complete protection against DNA damage, suggesting the herb could have powerful healing and anti-aging properties.

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