Pomegranate and Sumac for COVID-19 Symptom Relief: A Clinical Trial; via GreenMedInfo
*Sumac has similar phytonutrients as pom peel. It is added at the table in Middle Eastern cooking as a powdered seasoning with a citrus-y flavor and lovely magenta color (pretty on rice!) - JD
Before you head to a clinic, check your kitchen - what you need to fight COVID-19 symptoms may already be in your pantry
Posted on: Thursday, January 18th 2024 at 1:45 pm
Written By: GreenMedInfo Research Group
This article is copyrighted by GreenMedInfo LLC, 2024, Visit our Re-post guidelines
Before you head to a clinic, check your kitchen - what you need to fight COVID-19 symptoms may already be in your pantry
A recent clinical trial published in Mediators of Inflammation explored using pomegranate juice and sumac spice to help relieve COVID-19 symptoms. The randomized controlled study on 182 outpatients found the supplemental foods reduced issues like fever, cough, nausea, and more versus standard care alone. This highlights the potential for certain natural agents to help confront viruses when used alongside conventional approaches.
Summary of Clinical Trial Methods and Outcomes
The trial took place at an Iranian health center during the country's first pandemic wave. Eligible adult outpatients who tested positive for COVID-19 without requiring hospitalization were recruited and randomly split into two groups.
The treatment group consumed 200 mL pomegranate juice three times per day and 1.5 grams sumac spice twice daily on top of standard symptomatic medications like acetaminophen as needed. The control group received only standard medical care. After the roughly one-month intervention period, COVID-19 symptoms were reassessed.
Multiple respiratory, pain, gastrointestinal, and constitutional symptoms improved more in the phytonutrient-supplemented group. For example, the pomegranate/sumac cohort saw bigger decreases in rates of fever (75% to 0% in men), cough (97% to 27%), muscle pain (100% to 2%), diarrhea (84% to 2%), and weakness (85% to 12%) than controls. The supplementary foods were well tolerated without adverse effects.[1]
Mechanisms of Botanical Agents Against Viruses
Pomegranates contain compounds like punicalagin and anthocyanins that exhibit antiviral, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties based on previous research.[2] Ellagitannins may inhibit viral binding, entry, replication and activity through direct virion damage and host cell effects.[3]
Similarly, sumac is rich in gallic acid, flavonoids and anthocyanins. Past studies reveal antiviral effects against influenza, herpesviruses and HIV. Proposed mechanisms include inhibition of neuraminidase enzymes in flu viruses preventing cell penetration and tannins deactivating herpesvirus particles before infection occurs.[4]
While clinical signs improved, this study did not measure actual viral levels. But the symptom control, especially combined with conventional care, highlights natural products' therapeutic potential for viruses through multimodal actions.
Implications for Integrative COVID-19 Therapy
This trial focused on outpatients with relatively mild disease not needing hospital admission. Yet the implications span the full COVID-19 severity spectrum.
The anti-inflammatory characteristics of phytochemicals may help counter the excessive cytokine production behind pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome in severe cases, for example.[5] Additionally, properties like improving antioxidant status could protect organ tissues from damage attributed to virus infection.[6]
While vaccines, antivirals and monoclonal antibodies dominate the standard of care as primary medical therapies, this study and past research suggest certain supplemental foods like pomegranate and sumac carry benefits too.[7]
This promising new study indicates the diverse phytochemicals in plants offer much therapeutic promise against viruses like SARS-CoV-2. Intelligently incorporating select natural products alongside standard treatments appears an evidence-based adjunctive approach. More rigorous trials are warranted, but this clinical study reveals pomegranate and sumac's anti-COVID-19 symptom utility.
Visit the GreenMedInfo databases on Pomegranate, Sumac, and Coronavirus Disease to learn more about each of these subjects.
IMPORTANT NOTE ON 'GERM THEORY' AND COVID-19: Discussion of COVID-19 and infectious disease often comes with a wide range of unexamined assumptions, including the presumed lethality of viral particles, or even that viruses per se exist as classically defined by virologists. This is not something that should go without discussion and debate, as the topic deserves a much deeper exploration than is presently being conducted by the mainstream media and conventional medical authorities. In order to rectify this conspicuous lacunae, Sayer Ji has presented an alternative perspective which calls into question conventional models of infectious disease and contagion attributed to viruses, replacing it with what he calls the Xenogen Hypothesis. Learn more by watching his two presentations on the topic. 1) Covid-19: is it really about a virus? And 2) A New Biophysical Paradigm: Viruses, Exosomes, & Infection with Sayer Ji.
References
1. Forouzanfar F, et al. The Effect of Pomegranate Juice and Sumac Consumption in the Treatment of Outpatients with COVID-19. Mediators Inflamm. 2022 Nov 30;2022:6850342.
2. Conidi C, et al. Perspective of membrane technology in pomegranate juice processing: A review. Foods. 2020 Jul 9;9(7):889.
3. Stefanou V, et al. Pomegranate as an Anti-Viral Agent and Immune System Stimulant. Int J Adv Res Microbiol Immunol. 2021;3(1):1-12.
4. Korkmaz H. Could Sumac Be Effective on COVID-19 Treatment? J Med Food. 2021 Jun 1;24(6):563-568.
5. Cao X. COVID-19: immunopathology and its implications for therapy. Nat Rev Immunol. 2020 May;20(5):269-270.
6. Messarah M, et al. Prophylactic effects of pomegranate (Punica granatum) juice on sodium fluoride induced oxidative damage in liver and erythrocytes of rats. Can J Physiol Pharmacol. 2016 Jul;94(7):709-18.
7. Benarba B, Pandiella A. Medicinal plants as sources of active molecules against COVID-19. Front Pharmacol. 2020;11:1189.
8. Butler MJ, Barrientos RM. The impact of nutrition on COVID-19 susceptibility and long-term consequences. Brain Behav Immun. 2020 Aug;87:53-54.
The GMI Research Group (GMIRG) is dedicated to investigating the most important health and environmental issues of the day. Special emphasis will be placed on environmental health. Our focused and deep research will explore the many ways in which the present condition of the human body directly reflects the true state of the ambient environment.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of GreenMedInfo or its staff.
Sumac posts:
Sumac tea was a lemony drink used by Native Americans, (Substack)
For those who can't grow pomegranates, consider sumac instead, (Substack). Sumac is an invasive shrub that we see along the highway in farming areas.
Pistachio Sumac Pilaf - recipe, (Substack)
Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of Fair Use and is not intended to provide individual health guidance. *I have a professional membership with GreenMedInfo which includes the right to repost articles as long as I don’t change them.
Um, there's no such thing as Covid-19. Please stop perpetuating this lie.
It’s imperative that people stop ceding ground to fascists by reifying the Big Lie that "Covid" is a unique disease and that it is responsible for a global pandemic.
This only fortifies the narrative by implying that any extra-ordinary response was ever necessary, that a single one of their “public health” diktats was legitimate.
This has never had anything to do with what is nothing more than a computer-generated genome falsely attributed to a novel pathogen. It is a global conspiracy by the world's transnational ruling class which was planned out and war-gamed at the WEF, the central bankers summit in Jackson Hole, and at Event 201.
It’s all right there for anyone to look up and see for themselves. It is about radically transforming every aspect of society in response to the final crisis of capitalism, which was no long profitable or sustainable, transitioning to the new digital financial system, implementing the technologies of the so-called 4th Industrial Revolution, and exterminating and sterilizing broad swathes of the “useless eaters” and now-surplus labor/population, who in old crises would be sent off to war, which is too risky today with weapons of mass destruction that could blow up the world a hundred times over.
All talk of so-called "Covid" is a meaningless distraction and quite besides the (existentially urgent) point when you understand that the virus/disease they’re allegedly designed to protect against doesn’t exist in the first place and, additionally, what their real, above-mentioned purpose(s) is.
Curiously asking what are covid symptoms? Not enjoying your cognitive dissonance..