MILAN – Tea may have the property to inhibit the novel Coronavirus. The United Planters’ Association of South India (Upasi) Tea Research Institute is exploring the possibility of investigating the antiviral properties of Theaflavins-3, a compound abundantly found in black tea and catechins from green tea for the control of Coronavirus.
The research is led in collaboration with the Tea Board of India through Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).
According to a press release from Upasi, researchers in Taiwan and China have found that SARS SoV-2 could be inhibited by compounds that are abundant in tea.
Numerous black tea polyphenols especially those of Theaflavins-1, Theaflavins-2 and Theaflavins-3 were found to inhibit the SARS Cov-2 replication. In black tea, Theaflavins-3 was the most abundant (1.05 per cent).
“These results suggest that Theaflavins might be good starting point for the design of more active inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 and these compounds are abundant in the extract of black tea produced from the seedling populations belonging to Camellia L SP as well as the cultivars developed by the UPASI Tea Research Institute,” C Shreedharan, chairman, UPASI Tea Committee, said, in the release.
In another recent study, a research group from Indonesia and Thailand studied the secondary metabolites secreted by plants in tropical regions that can be developed as medicines.
They investigated a number of compounds for their potential to inhibit COVID-19.
Conclusion of the study was that along with several compounds catechin, and epicatechin-gallate sourced from Tea (Camellia sinensis) were also the most recommended compounds that may act as potential inhibitors of COVID-19.
