By Stephen Beech
Flu’s spread could be reduced by antiviral chewing gum made from beans, suggests a study.
Scientists used a clinical-grade gum in experiments to “substantially” lower viral loads of two herpes simplex viruses and two influenza A strains.
The research team say such viruses are transmitted more efficiently through the mouth than the nose.
They focused on the oral cavity to see how the spread of infectious diseases, which pose an escalating threat in today’s interconnected world, can be reduced.
Flu epidemics occur annually while herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) infects more than two-thirds of the global population, and is the leading cause of infectious blindness in Western countries.
Scientists say low vaccination rates for influenza viruses and the lack of an HSV vaccine underscore the need for a new approach, targeting the reduction of viral loads at the sites where transmission occurs.
Researchers from the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and their colleagues in Finland built on their previous work – now in clinical trial – showing that a similar approach was able to reduce SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 patient saliva or swab samples by more than 95%.
Penn Professor Henry Daniell and his team tested the ability of a chewing gum made from lablab beans, also known as hyacinth beans, that naturally contain an antiviral trap protein called FRIL to neutralize two herpes simplex viruses (HSV-1 and HSV-2) and two influenza A strains (H1N1 and H3N2).
The chewing gum formulation allowed for “effective and consistent” release of FRIL at sites of viral infection, according to the study published in the journal Molecular Therapy.
The team showed that 40 milligrams of a two-gram bean gum tablet was adequate to reduce viral loads by more than 95%, a reduction similar to what they saw in their SARS-CoV-2 study.
The researchers prepared the gum as a clinical-grade drug product to comply with specifications for drug products and found the gum to be safe.
Daniell said: “These observations augur well for evaluating bean gum in human clinical studies to minimize virus infection and transmission.”
Now the team is looking to use lab bean powder to tackle bird flu.
Bean powder has previously been shown to effectively neutralize H5N1 and H7N9, two strains of influenza A known to cause bird flu in humans as well as in birds.
The research team is hoping to test its use in bird feed to help control bird flu in birds.
Daniell said: “Controlling transmission of viruses continues to be major global challenge.”
He added: “A broad spectrum antiviral protein present in a natural food product to neutralize not only human flu viruses but also avian flu is a timely innovation to prevent their infection and transmission.”
