10 Antiviral Herbs to Keep Your Immune Health

Viral infections play a crucial part in human diseases, and recent epidemics in the wake of globalisation and the ease with which people can travel have highlighted the importance of preventing them.

Synthetic antiviral drug toxicity and inadequate responses to resistant strains have fueled the hunt for more effective and alternative therapeutic options, including as plant-derived antiviral medicine compounds.

Over the past few decades, advanced scientific research has discovered many synthetic antiviral agents which are effective against many viral infectious diseases. Unfortunately, these synthetic drugs have been reported to produce countless adverse effects. In some cases, they may become ineffective on emerging viral resistant strains (Kurokawa et al., 2010)

Hence, the quest for novel antiviral agents focuses not only on synthetic combinations but also on the plant-derived metabolites. A variety of plant metabolites can impede viral replication without affecting the host physiology or with limited side effects (Martin and Ernst, 2003; Hussain et al., 2017). Medicinal herbs possess a variety of phytochemicals that harbour antiviral properties, which are advantages over conventional drug therapy due to their broad therapeutic potency and minimum or no adverse effects. (Sayantani Chanda et al.,2020)

1.Cassia Fistula

• Cassia fistula L is an important medicinal plant used in many traditional medicinal systems including Ayurveda and Chinese Traditional Medicine.

• The present review of Cassia Fistula pharmacological properties including antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, antidiabetic, antitumor, hepatoprotective among other activities.

• Cassia Fistula contains Ethanoic extract which significantly inhibited several viruses which include below list that clinically proven

  • Foot and Mouth Disease (FMDV)

  • Ranikhet disease

  • Vaccinia virus (VV)

  • Infectious Boive Rhinotracheitis (IBR) virus.

  • Coronavirus (COVID-19)

2.Boerhaavia diffusa

• The whole plant or its specific parts (leaves, stem, and roots) are known to have medicinal properties and have a long history of use by indigenous and tribal people in India.

• It possesses hepatoprotective, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, anti-stress and immunomodulation, antifertility, antimicrobial, antiviral and insecticidal activities

• The aqueous extract of air-dried roots of Boerhaavia diffusa shows broad-spectrum antiviral activity and no phytoxic effects

3. Terminalia Bellerica

• Terminalia bellirica fruit pericarp were found to be good antibacterial and antiviral activity

• Terminalia bellirica fruit is a potential source for developing broad-spectrum antibacterial drugs against multidrug-resistant(MDR) bacteria, which are non-toxic to mammalian cells and impart health benefits by high antioxidant activity.

4.Terminalia Chebula

• Terminalia chebula is rich sources of tannins and maximum amount was found in fruits. Besides this, it also contain good amount of other phytochemicals like flavonoids, tannins, sterols,fructose, amino acids, resin, fixed oils etc

• It was found in early studies that the Terminalia chebula is active in protective activity against cytotoxic

• It was also useful to fight against acute pulmonary infections which defended upper respiratory cells from influenza A virus

5. Amla

• Amla is often reported for its various biological properties such as immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, antiviral, anti-diabetic, antimicrobial, etc

• Srikumar et al. (2006) reported that amla extracts increased the immune response and regulated the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione S transferase 

• Based on the previous reports available in literature and the results of the present in silico study, it can be implied that the bioactives of Amla could act as potential inhibitors for COVID-19 Mpro

6. Aerva Ianata

• Aerva lanata is well known for its anti-microbial activity

• The robustness of some of the phytochemicals such as ervoside, which is only present in Aerva lanata computed to have very high anticoronavirus activity

• Besides phytochemicals from Aerva lanata and hydroxychloroquine in effective treatment of COVID-19 which is many of the alkaloids and flavonoids from this herb computed to be highly effective towards SARS-CoV-2

7. Curcuma Longa

• Curcumin, the primary curcuminoid compound found in turmeric spice, has shown broad activity as an antimicrobial agent, limiting the replication of many different fungi, bacteria and viruses

• Curcumin can act not only as an anti-fungal and anti-bacterial compound, but also as an anti-viral compound, inhibiting replication in a wide-range of viruses

• Curcumin has already been demonstrated to inhibit SARS-CoV-1 replication,the coronavirus which caused the 2003 epidemic

• Additionally, several molecular docking studies have been performed that suggest curcumin would be effective at inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 replication through interacting with the spike glycoprotein and inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)

8. Mangifera Indica

• Mango (Mangifera indica L.), which considered as a very common fruit  belong to a certain kind of plants called Anacardiaceous

• These fruits include a high percentage of antioxidant elements, which have been shown to reduce the risk of heart, cardiac, and cancer disease. They also have a high level of activity against viruses and germs, preventing them from multiplying.

• The mangifera extract showed the highest antiviral activity against the influenza virus H9N2 propagated on tissue culture cells

9. Mesua Ferrea

• The whole plant of M. ferrea is wildly used as medicinal plant in tropical Asia and India

• Based on clinical studies it shows rhusflavanone and mesuaferrone B are the anti-virulence components from M. ferrea with inhibitory activity on the secretion of effector proteins on Salmonella

10.Embelia ribes

• Study in 2018 shows the ethyl acetate extract of fruits of Embelia ribes Burm. f. (Myrsinaceae) had the highest antiviral activity

• Embelin is the major component of Embelia ribes Burm (Myrsinaceae).

• Embelin was further evaluated against a panel of influenza viruses including influenza A and B viruses that were susceptible or resistant to rimantadine and oseltamivir