Herbal Remedies for Coronavirus

I am not a medical professional — simply, a hypochondriac.

I make no claims here to suggest that the following remedies will do anything to prevent you from getting Coronavirus. Heck, the FDA doesn't legally allow me to suggest these remedies would even help you in case you actually got it.

Likelihood is that we're all gonna get some version of coronavirus, because this thing is a lot like the actual flu, chicken pox, and HSV 1. It's a virus with no vaccine.

So, we might as well look for ways to help our immune system fight the infection. That's what I believe I have found — a way towards healing — and I want to share it with you.

If I tell you that I've found something I believe can help you in case you get sick, I'm sure you'd wonder why medical professionals aren't jumping headfirst into it.

Most Western Doctors stay away from Chinese Herbal Medicine since it conflicts with their paradigm, or worldview. There's some evidence of Traditional Chinese Medicine working well in its country of origin.

Here's my understanding of our current global pandemic, followed by a deep dive into a study that looks at a handful of herbs which may be effective for fighting coronavirus.

What is Coronavirus?

By now, I'm sure you've heard something along the lines of "Coronaviruses are a family of enveloped, single–stranded, positive–strand RNA" (1)— or simply "I donno, it's like some RNA thing that replicates super fast and mutates at speeds we can't keep up with."

The name “coronavirus,” coined in 1968, is derived from the “corona”–like or crown–like morphology observed for these viruses in the electron microscope (1). Can you believe we have known about coronaviruses for more than 50 years? We are welln‐equipped to handle this virus since we already know so much about it.

Image 1. A contemporary meme.

As described in a landmark paper in 2005 by researchers Susan Weiss and Sonia Navas–Martin, "Coronaviruses cause acute and chronic respiratory, enteric, and central nervous system (CNS) diseases."

My favorite line from their research paints such a positive image: "Coronaviruses are a fascinating group of viruses, providing animal models of pathogenesis, unusual molecular mechanisms of transcription and recombination, and new emerging pathogens" (1).

Image 2. A scientific description of Coronavirus from Weiss & Navas–Martin (2005).

What does this all mean? There's a few variations of coronavirus (which thrive in animals and humans) — as we were familiar with SARS and MERS. They keep creating new strains of themselves (oh, those emerging pathogens). But! On the bright side, we can study the effects of treatments on the group as a whole because "the genomes of all coronaviruses have a similar structure" (1).

The "Cure"

As everyone is forcibly quarantined, I would like to bring up The Cure: "You make me feel like I am home again."

In my freshly free time, I decided to put my science degree to good use and read some research (you know, to find The Cure).

When it comes to today's lesson, we're going to look at one study in particular which identifies four major Chinese herbs as effective treatments. Honestly, what's fascinating is that there are several other studies which identify more than 30 herbs as potential remedies for coronavirus infections.

In 2008, a group of researchers based in South Korea published a study on their search for new anti-coronaviral drugs to treat coronaviral infections. They screened 22 traditional medicinal herbal extracts using mouse hepatitis virus (MHV). They used mouse hepatitis virus because it "has been extensively studied as a prototype of coronavirus and a model for human disease" (2).

They saw that RNA replication decreased dramatically using these herbs.

Image 3. The blank lanes (4-7) represent the effects of Cimicifuga rhizome, Meliae cortex, Coptidis rhizome, Phellodendron cortex on MHV RNA replication.

In the present study, the scientists were not seeking to prevent infection, in the way that vaccines do. Instead, the research shows what happens post infection. If there is a big likelihood that many people will become infected, then we might as well shift our way of thinking from absolute prevention (through vaccines) to helping our immune system fight off a disease (through herbs).

Image 4. Here we can see how concentration of the herbal extraction affects viral activity. A large downward slope shows a strong effect.

Let's take a look at Image 4. Clearly, some herbs work better than others, and some doses are more effective. Amazingly, "50 μg/ml of Coptidis rhizoma completely abolished MHV production" (2)

Noticing any effect on viral activity means there is a correlation between the use of a particular herb and the behavior of the virus. From that correlation, we can draw certain conclusions. Scientists will often seek to identify which compounds are most effective so that those compounds can be isolated and mass–produced and distributed.

Image 5. The effect of time on MHV replication with the application of certain herbs.

Okay, so this last image is slightly alarming.

Waiting 2, 4, and 6 hours after introducing the MHV infection shows that over time, the effects of the herbs were lessened: "the antiviral activity of the extracts diminished as viral replication proceeded."

There's some good news to come from this, and I am sure CNN, Fox, or any other news network will (politely?) disagree. If you start taking herbs on a regular basis, once — I mean, if — you come in contact with coronavirus or one of its many strains, you will be able to help your immune system defeat it! Have you been convinced yet?

While the whole world is stocking up on toilet paper and hand sanitizer, do yourself a favor and support your local Chinese herb store.

Alternatively, I am making tinctures for family and friends, as well as curious folks. If you are interested, please send an email to dhyannna@gmail.com

What's next?

The beauty of Chinese Traditional Medicine is that its been happening for over 3,000 years and herbs have been used for various illnesses like menopause, diabetes, and liver ailments. There's so many other herbs that could help besides the ones I've found and it's up to you to make up your mind on what to believe.

Helpful steps to take on your own:

1. Determine which herb(s) you're interested in. Do some extra research on Google Scholar.
2. Look up the Latin name on Google to see what Wikipedia says.
3. Find out what the name is in Chinese.
4. Go to a Chinese Herb Store, with the name written in pinyin and traditional Chinese script.
5. Buy enough to experiment a bit.
6. Read more about Chinese Herbs.

For Coptidis Rhizoma, optimal extraction conditions were achieved with an ethanol concentration of 59%, extraction time of 46.57 min, and a temperature of 66.22 °C (3).

I dug deep into Coptidis Rhizoma because it had many uses such as "anti–inflammatory, anti–cancer, hypoglycemic, anti–diabetic, neuroprotective and cardioprotective effects" (4).

I found some 151 Bacardi Rum for my trials and I will be posting more about tinctures soon! Until then, reach out if you'd like a bottle. Or make your own ✨

Here's to putting the power back into the people's hands.

Citations:

1. Weiss SR, Navas-Martin S. Coronavirus pathogenesis and the emerging pathogen severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 2005; 69:635–664.

3. Kim H-Y, Shin H-S, Park H, Kim Y-C, Yun Y G, Park S, Shin H-J, Kim K. In vitro inhibition of coronavirus replications by the traditionally used medicinal herbal extracts, Cimicifuga rhizoma, Meliae cortex, Coptidis rhizoma, and Phellodendron cortex. Journal of Clinical Virology 2008; 41(2):122-128

3. Teng H, Choi YH. Optimization of ultrasonic-assisted extraction of bioactive alkaloid compounds from rhizoma Coptidis (Coptis chinensis Franch.) using response surface methodology. Food Chem. 2014;142:299–305. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.06.136.

4. Meng F-C, Wu Z-F, Yin Z-Q, Lin L-G, Wang R, Zhang Q-W. Coptidis rhizoma and its main bioactive components: recent advances in chemical investigation, quality evaluation and pharmacological activity. Chinese Medicine. 2018;13:13. doi: 10.1186/s13020-018-0171-3.