The Daily Herald shared a new study that has made created a lot of chatter in the natural wellness world: “Promising coronavirus research looks at elderberry.”
Please note: this is for educational purposes only. The statements made here are not made by nor regulated by the FDA. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure anything or anyone.
With all of the press in the last few months, you’ve likely learned that, coronaviruses are a family of viruses.
Before we share the latest research, let me be upfront to say that this is not conclusive for the novel C0V*D19. It’s just too soon to know exactly what will or won’t be effective for it yet. Rest assured, there a scientists all over the world sharing a slew of solutions, using both Western and Eastern practices.
With so much in the works, we’re hopeful to continue to see progress toward the potential impact that elderberry *could* have on C0V*D19 and all future mutations. After all, we’re now starting to hear big things about quercetin and polyphenols on this coronavirus. And we already know definitively that elderberries are the 2nd highest food studied by the USDA to contain quercetin and the 2nd highest food on the ORAC scale for all berries.
“Promising coronavirus research looks at elderberry” ~ The Daily Herald, May 3rd, 2019
If you’ve been a part of the Trisha’s Elderberries community for a while, we’ve shared about the effectiveness of elderberry on the avian coronavirus, otherwise known as infectious bronchitis or IBV (https://bit.ly/3b30iii). That 2014 study concluded that elderberry can inhibit IBV at an early point in infection, probably by rendering the virus non-infectious. They suggested that future studies using elderberry to treat or prevent IBV or other coronaviruses are warranted based on the study.
In early May 2020, The Daily Herald released media referencing a new study (Nov 2019) on yet another coronavirus called HCoV-NL63, a cousin to the coronavirus that caused COVID-19 (https://bit.ly/2WrhyID).
The study indicates that caffeic acid, a chemical compound in elderberry, may prevent the binding of COVID-like viruses to cells, limiting the potential for infection.
The study cites that the phytochemical was 10x more effective at preventing this than any of the other elderberry molecules examined.
That’s exciting news!
It’s important to note that this research was not done in humans but done in vitro (petri dishes / test tubes) which means that further research is necessary to understand how elderberry would impact HCoV-NL63 inside the human body with all systems firing.
Coupled with the avian coronavirus conclusion, the impact that elderberry could have on not one, but TWO coronaviruses now could be promising for sure to keep testing its use.
As a side, while not a coronavirus, we saw something similar in a March 2019 study whereby elderberry can inhibit viral replication for influenza as well (http://bit.ly/2NQy2Xo). So, the question we might be asking ourselves is…if it can happen for one virus, can it happen for others? That’s for the scientists to flesh out.
So there you have it. We’re excited for what could be in store for elderberry over the next few years, maybe sooner!
Article summary…
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Elderberry has positive impact on 2 coronaviruses
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Elderberry is high in polyphenols, namely quercetin
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Polyphenols and quercetin show promise for COVID-19
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If elderberry is effective for 2 coronaviruses and 10 influenza strains, is it possible that it’s effective for C)*ID_19 as well?
Best in health,
Trish