Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Mar 30;19(1):1559325820982423.
doi: 10.1177/1559325820982423. eCollection 2021 Jan-Mar.

Possible Potential Effects of Honey and Its Main Components Against Covid-19 Infection

Farshid Abedi  1 , Saeedeh Ghasemi  2 , Tahereh Farkhondeh  3   4 , Mohsen Azimi-Nezhad  5   6 , Mehdi Shakibaei  7 , Saeed Samarghandian  8
Affiliations
Review

Possible Potential Effects of Honey and Its Main Components Against Covid-19 Infection

Farshid Abedi et al. Dose Response. .

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral pneumonia that is spreading rapidly worldwide. The main feature of this disease is a severe acute respiratory syndrome and caused by coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). There are several unknowns about the pathogenesis and therapeutically treatment of COVID-19 infection. In addition, available treatment protocols have not been effective in managing COVID-19 infection. It is proposed that natural anti-oxidants such as lemon, green tea, saffron, curcuma longa, etc. with high flavonoids like safranal, crocin, crocetin, catechins, resveratrol, calebin A, curcumin have therapeutic potential against viral infections. In this context, honey and its main components are being investigated as an option for patients with COVID-19. The present study may indicate that honey and its main components inhibit the entry of the virus into the host cell and its replication as well as modulate the inflammatory cascade. This review provides basic information for the possible potential effects of honey and its main components for fighting with SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV; SARS-CoV-2; acute respiratory distress syndrome; honey; viral infection.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Effect of main components of honey on the cell cycle of corona virus. Main flavonoids present in honey such as chrysin, quercetin and kaempferol may be effective against corona virus by inhibiting virus entry, invasion and replication.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Gralinski LE, Bankhead A III, Jeng S, et al. Mechanisms of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-induced acute lung injury. MBio. 2013;4(4):e00271–13. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Xu X, Han M, Li T, et al. Effective treatment of severe COVID-19 patients with tocilizumab. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2020;117(20):10970–10975. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kaur J, Kaur R, Kaur A. Dietary Antioxidants and Infectious Diseases, in Infectious Diseases and Your Health. Springer; 2018:307–316.
    1. Young I, Woodside J. Antioxidants in health and disease. J Clin Pathol. 2001;54(3):176–186. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. WHO Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality: Household Fuel Combustion. World Health Organization; 2014. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources