Pomegranate peel extracts could inhibit Covid-19: Study

Researchers carried out a study on pomegranate peel extracts’ role in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Their study titled, “Computational study of pomegranate peel extract polyphenols as potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 virus internalization,” was published in the latest issue of the journal Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry.

This comes as researchers across the globe are exploring herbal and natural substances that can help in the treatment of coronavirus.

The research was led by first author Relja Suručić from the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The researchers intended to explore the benefits of pomegranate as it has several properties that can inhibit the effects of SARS-CoV-2. This includes anti-inflammatory effects; antioxidant effects; hypoglycaemic or blood sugar reducing effects; lipid-lowering or cholesterol-lowering effects; antihypertensive or blood pressure lowering effects; antimicrobial effects.

The researchers stated that the pomegranate extracts have been known to be useful against viruses such as “influenza virus, herpes virus, poxviruses, and human immunodeficiency virus.”

Through their study, they showed that constituents of pomegranate peel extracts such as punicalagin and punicalin show significant potential in interacting with the selected protein targets and thus could possibly prevent the viral entry into the host cell.

The researchers wrote that the extracts prevented viral entry into the host cell.

Authors of the study wrote: “Punicalagin and punicalin are promising candidates for further anti-SARS-CoV-2 in vitro studies”.

“Being the ingredients of a natural product that is used as food, these candidates also have a confirmed safety profile which is their additional and important advantage in the disease treatment,” concluded the team.