Black sesame seeds used in treating hair loss and grey hair

What are black sesame seeds(Semen Sesami Nigrum, Hei Zhi Ma)?
Actually it refers to dry mature seeds of Sesamum indicum L., a plant under the genus Sesamum of the family Pedaliaceae. It plants are usually harvested during autumn when the fruits at the peak of their ripeness. And next dry them in the sun, knock out of the seeds, remove impurities, and then dry in the sun once again.

It is flat oval, about 3mm long and 2mm wide. Surface is black and smooth or with netted wrinkles. Tip has brown punctate hilum. Seed coat is thin. Cotyledons are two, white, and rich in oil. It has slight odor, sweet taste, and oil aroma.

Main chemical constituents are up to 55% fatty oil, sesamin, sesamolin, sesamol, vitamin E, phytosterols, lecithin, pedaliin, protein, oligosaccharides, planteose, sesamose, and mall amounts of phosphorus, potassium and cytochrome C, folic acid, nicotinic acid, sucrose, pentosan and large amounts of calcium content. In addition, fatty oil mainly contains approximately 48% oleic acid, approximately 37% linoleic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, arachidonic acid, and glycerolipid of lignoceric acid.

Black sesame seeds benefits
As mentioned above, there are two types of sesame seeds – black and white sesame seeds. Both of them contain almost the same composition. So, what is the difference between them? By comparison, white sesame seed is better for edible purpose but the black version is preferable if used for medicinal purpose. To be specific, as the tonic black one is good at nourishing the liver and kidney and improving hair growth and hair color while white one is expert in relaxing bowel, nourishing yin and moisturizing to the skin. Besides, black sesame has high nutritional value. It also contains extremely valuable sesamin and melanin. As a result, it is widely used in treating hair loss and grey hair, inhibiting the growth of skin cancer cells from UV rays, lowering blood pressure, helping weight loss, improving fertility, and so on.