Fennel or Nigella sativa (NS) has been shown to offer plenty of benefits for the heart. A study published in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine compared the angiogenic properties of fennel with that of exercise in an animal model.

• Exercise’s main benefit to the cardiovascular system has to do with improving blood flow and inducing angiogenesis.
• NS seeds contain health-beneficial nutrients and have been shown to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, hypoglycemic, and antilipidemic effects. They have also demonstrated the ability to promote positive cardiac adaptation.
• The researchers divided 15 rats into three groups: control, exercise (Ex), and NS. The Ex group was placed in a five-lane wheel and made to exercise regularly. The NS group was fed 800 milligrams/kilogram (mg/kg) of fennel seeds for eight weeks. At the end of eight weeks, the rats were sacrificed, and their hearts were extracted. The researchers examined the animals’ vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1), Von Willebrand factor (VWF), and nitric oxide synthase-2 (NOS-2) antibodies (Ab).
• They found that both the NS and Ex groups had higher VEGF and lower VWF. However, only the Ex group had higher PECAM-1 and lower NOS-2 levels.

The researchers concluded that NS could induce coronary angiogenesis, but indicated that this finding needs further research for confirmation.

Read the full text of the study at this link.