Bananas can fight the flu: Wonder fruit can 'cure' illness and common cold

Bananas can fight the flu new research shows

BANANAS hold the key for the first cure for colds and flu, thanks to a wonder ingredient.

 

“Exciting” new research suggests that it could lead to a new generation of antiviral remedies to banish the misery of runny noses, headaches and fevers.

The study comes as millions are preparing to dose up on over-the-counter treatments to combat the winter bug.

 

Scientists believe they can harness the potent power of a chemical found in Britain’s most popular fruit to also provide treatments for Ebola, hepatitis C, Sars and HIV.

The therapy works using a protein called banana lectin, or BanLec.

 

A banana a day will keep the doc away

It provides a biological barrier to mop up stray viruses so they are rendered harmless.

It is beautiful science with a truly translational impact

Professor Wendy Barclay

Dr David Markovitz, of the University of Michigan Medical School, said: “What we’ve done is exciting because there is potential for BanLec to develop into a broad spectrum antiviral agent.”

BanLec sticks to chains of sugar molecules and its use as a miracle antiviral has potential because most of the world’s deadliest viruses are covered in exactly the sort of sugar molecules that banana lectin prefers.

 

The wonder fruit has the power to beat illness like the flu

When these viruses are covered in lectin, they become harmless. Jonathan Ball, Professor of Molecular Virology at the University of Nottingham, said: “Each new virus outbreak is a timely reminder of our need for antivirals to work against a range of viruses.

"Lectins have that potential as they are able to bind to the sugars present on the surface of a range of viruses including HIV, influenza and Ebola, many of which have caused or have the potential to cause severe epidemics or even pandemics.”

 

BanLec was previously shown to be a powerful virus inhibitor but it also caused inflammation, which limited its use as a treatment.

Now an international team of scientists has engineered a form that fights viruses without leading to irritation.

When a treatment using the protein is fully developed it could spell the end of antiviral medication like Tamiflu, used by millions each year to treat the debilitating effects of flu but sometimes with distressing side effects.

  

Bananas hold the key for the first cure for colds and flu, thanks to a wonder ingredient

Professor Wendy Barclay, an influenza virology expert at Imperial College, London, said: “It is beautiful science with a truly translational impact. Let’s hope it can go further.”

The study was published in the journal Cell.