Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "
|
|
||||||||
23.06.2013 |
|
Banaba flavonoid quercetin-7-glycoside protects against virus infection
Producers of banaba supplements and banaba tea in China, Vietnam and the Philippines market these mainly as products that protect against diabetes type 2, but local healers use banaba extracts against infectious diseases too. This use inspired the Koreans to perform their experiments with human HeLa cells. The researchers exposed the cells to human rhinovirus 2, and looked at whether adding quercetin-7-glucoside, a flavonoid found in banaba, prevented the cells from becoming infected by the virus.
The researchers compared the anti-virus effect of quercetin-7-glucoside with that of the virus-inhibiting medicine ribavirin. Ribavirin inhibits the multiplication of viruses in cells.
In other experiments the researchers treated the viruses with the banaba flavonoid. This did not prevent the cells from being infected by the virus afterwards.
The researchers suspect that quercetin-7-glycoside doesn't interact with the virus, but that it prevents the virus from multiplying in the cells during the first hours after contact.
"Quercetin-7-Glycoside is an attractive anti-human rhinovirus 2 agent", the Koreans conclude in their publication. "Further investigations will focus on the development of topical formulations with higher effectiveness of Quercetin-7-Glycoside."
The study was not paid for by the industry, but by the university where the research leader and immunologist Hwa Jung Choi works.
Source:
More:
|
|