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17.06.2025

Garlic's antiviral effect thwarts coronavirus

Garlic may have antiviral effects. According to an in vitro study that has so far only been published as a pre-print, allicin, an active compound in garlic, prevents the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus from replicating in human cells.

Study
Canadian biologists affiliated with Kwantlen Polytechnic University introduced a piece of genetic material originally from the coronavirus into human cells. The genetic material caused the cells to produce spike protein. Cells also do this when they are infected with SARS-COV-2 and after vaccination with genetically modified vaccines from companies such as Pfizer and Moderna.

The Canadians exposed some of their cells to allicin, a well-researched active ingredient in garlic. They then examined whether this substance could reduce the production of spike protein.

In 2021, Berlin virologists published a study showing that exposure to allicin in vitro reduces the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in cells. [BioRxiv 2021.05.15.444275.] [Front Microbiol. 2021 Oct 28:12:746795.] In this study, allicin stimulated the breakdown of viral genetic material.

Results
Exposure to allicin reduced the number of cells that could produce the spike protein. Without allicin, 96 percent of cells were able to do so. With allicin, this percentage dropped to 4-7 percent.

Click on the figure below for a larger version.

Conclusion
"Our results provide preliminary but compelling evidence that allicin can selectively and efficiently downregulate SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain protein expression in human splenic fibroblasts, without compromising cell viability", the Canadians summarize.

"These findings support further investigations of allicin as a natural low-toxicity candidate for complementary antiviral strategies."

"Future studies should focus on deciphering the underlying molecular mechanisms, extending the findings to full-length spike constructs, and testing more physiologically relevant models."

Little problem
The concentration the researchers used allicin in a concentration of 50 micromoles. You will not find that concentration in the body of someone who has eaten garlic or garlic extracts. Because the body metabolizes allicin quickly, that concentration will increase to at most 0.05 micromoles - and that only for a period of a few minutes.

However, after consuming garlic, you will find metabolites of allicin in the blood, such as allyl methyl sulfide. The concentration of that substance in the blood can increase to 10 micromoles. If that substance and perhaps other metabolites have the same inhibitory effect on SARS-CoV-2, then the antiviral effect of garlic in real life suddenly becomes a lot more likely.

Source:
BioRxiv 2025.06.10.659002.

More:
Fighting colds with garlic 26.03.2020

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