10 Benefits of Sesame Oil
Sesame oil benefits include helps in: Rheumatoid Arthritis, fight of free radicals, good for hair, rich in unsaturated fats, improves oral health, helps with bowel movements, lowers blood pressure, helps to fight stress and depression, helps in preventing diabetes, slows down the aging of the skin, is a natural sunscreen, helps in improving eye health, and improves bone strength.
Sesame oil, also known as gingelly oil, isn’t just a condiment. It’s a do-it-all oil that can moisturize your skin, fight signs of aging, keep your locks healthy, and act as a base oil for almost all herbal oils. And, that’s just the beginning.
Sesame oil offers many other impressive health benefits including managing anxiety and stress, keeping your heart healthy, reducing blood pressure and more. The nutty, yellow-y oil is packed with good-for-you vitamins and minerals, not to mention flavor, making them a great addition to your daily diet.
What are the benefits of using sesame oil on your skin?
Sesame oil has the following properties, which help to make it a beneficial oil for your skin:
- This means it has the ability to fight damage by free radicals, or unstable molecules that can harm the cellular structure of your skin.
- This means it can kill harmful microorganisms or stop their growth.
- Anti-inflammatory. This means it can reduce inflammation and swelling.
Sesame oil also has a moderately low rating on the comedogenic scale. This unofficial database ranks different oils and butters by their pore-clogging properties. The scale ranges from zero to five. A rating of zero means that an oil won’t clog your pores, while a rating of five means that it will.
Because non-comedogenic oils don’t clog pores, sesame oil may work well on acne-prone skin. Sesame oil’s anti-inflammatory properties may also add to its acne-fighting abilities, although there’s currently no scientific data to back this up.
What nutrients does sesame oil have?
Sesame oil contains vitamin E, which can help protect skin cells from the damage caused by environmental factors, such as UV rays, pollution, and toxins. Sesame oil also contains several phenolic compounds, which give it its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. These compounds include:
- tocopherol
- pinoresinol
- sesamin
- sesamolin
- sesaminol
- sesamol
It also contains several essential fatty acids. These acids are effective moisturizers that can help keep your skin supple, soft, and hydrated.
- oleic acid
- palmitic acid
- stearic acid
- linoleic acid
Five benefits for the skin using sesame oil
Sesame oil can also be applied topically. It gives your skin the golden glow you always desired. The high levels of antioxidants present in sesame oil makes it ideal as carrier oil for cosmetics. You can give yourself a sesame oil massage instead of using olive oil, though both are good for your skin, sesame oil releases that warm sensation when rubbed on the skin.
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Sunscreen
The natural antioxidant and sesamol in til oil neutralises the harmful oxidizing effects of UV sun rays and free radicals. You can also use it to treat sunburns.
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Anti-acne weapon
Sesame oil has excellent antibacterial properties, which helps to get rid of acne, pimple, blackheads, and whiteheads.
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Moisturizer and skin detoxifier
Sesame oil repairs the damaged skin cells and the presence of fatty acids and vitamins reduce wrinkles, fine lines and enlarged pores. Polyphenols in the sesame seeds prevent the skin from getting the oily shine and restore the natural barrier balance.
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Exfoliator and skin brightener
Natural properties of til oil remove the dirt, oil, and bacteria from the skin leaving behind a naturally glowing, soft, and supple looking skin.
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Damage skin healer
Sesame oil improves skin circulation and rejuvenation thus promoting the quick recovery of damaged cells. Minerals like zinc, copper, calcium, magnesium, and manganese in til oil can repair scar tissue and regenerate new skin cells
Sesame Oil Benefits for Hair:
Hair is our crowning glory; it frames our face and makes us look beautiful. Trichologists say that a healthy scalp and right diet helps in hair growth. Sesame oil contains essential fatty acids like omega-3, omega-6 and omega-9 that nourish your hair from the roots.
Sesame Oil Benefits for Health:
Sesame oil contains a host of nutrients like Manganese, copper, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, fiber, Thiamine, Vitamin B6, Phosphorus, Tryptophan and protein. All these nutrients are needed for the proper functioning of the organs. Cooking with sesame oil not only makes your food yummy, it also brings a marked difference in your lifestyle.
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Helps in improving eye health
Sesame seed and oil offer both nutritive and preventative benefits to your eyes. Being a rich source of flavonoids, phenolic antioxidants, omega-6 fatty acids, dietary fiber, and vitamins, sesame oil can protect ocular cells from inflammation and vision impairments.
When applied topically, it will moisturize dry under eye areas thanks to the presence of emollient fatty acids including linoleic acid, palmitic acid, oleic acid, and stearic acid.
According to traditional medicine, regularly massaging eyelids with sesame oil can reduce dark circles and crows’ feet.
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Helps to fight stress and depression
Trying to cope with anxiety and stress? Include sesame oil as part of your diet. Tyrosine, in sesame oil, has direct links with serotonin levels in the brain. Serotonin is a happy hormone, an imbalance of which will make you depressed and stressed.
Sesame also contains magnesium and calcium, the stress relieving minerals. Also, it has thiamin and tryptophan which are known for their role in the production of serotonin.
When you have enough serotonin in the circulation, you will feel more relaxed and stress remains at bay.
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Lowers blood pressure
There’s a reason why sesame oil was used in cooking since the ancient times. Sesame seeds help prevent hypertension thanks to the high magnesium content present in them. A study published in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine found that sesame oil can lower blood pressure, decrease lipid peroxidation, and increase antioxidant levels in patients with high BP. The researchers also found a significant reduction in body weight and body mass index (BMI) in the subjects who were fed with edible sesame oil for 45 days.
Polyunsaturated fats and sesamin present in sesame oil also help maintain blood pressure levels.
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Helps in preventing diabetes
Owing to the presence of magnesium – 505 mg (126% of DV) per cup, sesame seeds, and sesame oil come handy in combating diabetes. Magnesium alongside other minerals and vitamins lowers blood glucose levels and thwarts the risk of diabetes. A pilot study conducted in hypersensitive diabetic patients indicated that edible sesame oil can lower BP, and plasma glucose levels.
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Improves bone strength
Maintaining copper, calcium, and zinc levels through dietary sources is critical to bone growth. For improving the growth and development of bone, you should add sesame seeds and sesame oil into your diet because they contain more calcium than a glass of milk. Sesame oil is also found to speed up healing or regrowth of bones.
Moreover, as you get older, the minerals in sesame oil help prevent osteoporosis and age-related bone changes.
Word of Caution
Consuming sesame oil is safe but because it contains high amounts of omega-6 fatty acids, we would recommend using it in moderation.
If you are allergic to sesame seeds, do not consume or use it topically as it may worsen your health.
If you are taking anticoagulants or blood thinners, you should consult your doctor before making sesame oil a part of your diet. Because it lowers your blood pressure and thins the blood.
Pregnant women and nursing mothers should take extreme caution when consuming sesame seeds or oil because it has hormone inducing properties.
