Key Takeaways
- New data suggests compounds in certain teas may help inactivate the virus that causes COVID-19.
- This potential mechanism will not be a substitute for a COVID vaccine.
- The study authors say gargling with tea for 10 seconds may offer essentially the most useful effects for many who are infected.
New data published in Food and Environmental Virology shows that tea could also be a useful COVID-19 prevention tool because of its ability to inactivate the virus within the mouth.
Although COVID enters the body primarily through the respiratory tract, it might also enter through the mouth. Once it does, its cells can replicate within the oral glands and mucosa before affecting other parts of the gastrointestinal system and extra body systems.
The recent study shows tea may stop COVID in its tracks by reducing viral load upon contact, potentially helping reduce the spread of the virus each throughout the body and to other people.
The Virus-Fighting Properties of Tea
True teas, or teas constituted of the Camellia sinensis plant, include green, black, oolong, and white varieties. The plant polyphenols tea incorporates can reduce inflammation, potentially allowing the beverage to enhance viral symptoms.
While earlier research suggesting a positive relationship between tea and COVID-19 prevention exists, the methodology utilized in these studies makes it hard to extrapolate the info to humans.
To fill the gap, researchers on the University of Georgia evaluated whether certain commercially available teas can quickly inactivate infectious SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19—in saliva.
The researchers purchased 24 teas from multiple brands on the food market. Teas varied amongst leaves and kinds, including each true and herbal teas. Researchers steeped each tea in hot water for quarter-hour and ready them at two concentrations: a typical steep and a highly concentrated version that individuals could be unlikely to drink.
Teas were then incubated with SARS-CoV-2 and assessed after five minutes.
When the tea was steeped on the concentration people typically enjoy, black tea showed the very best reduction in viral activity inside 10 seconds of coming into contact with COVID. Green, Mint Medley, eucalyptus-mint, and Raspberry Zinger teas showed slight inactivation of COVID.
At the stronger concentrations, all varieties of tea showed a discount in virus activity inside 10 seconds.
The researchers attribute the effect to polyphenols.
Because the very best inhibitory effect of tea occurred in tandem with the moment of infection, if tea were for use to assist inactivate COVID in the actual world, it probably must be consumed as soon after infection as possible.
“Our results provide insights right into a rapid at-home intervention (tea drinking or gargling) to scale back infectious SARS-CoV-2 load within the oral cavity which may additionally mitigate infection of the oral mucosa,” the study authors reported.
“To inactivate a virus is to make it non-infectious, meaning that it cannot infect the cells of the body. The tea infusions we identified inactivated the virus inside 10 seconds,” study writer Malak Esseili, PhDAssistant Professor of Food Virology on the University of Georgia, told Verywell.
Malak emphasized that deactivating a virus in saliva will not be a substitute for getting a vaccine.
“A vaccine works behind the scenes to make the immune system ready for the virus once it comes knocking on the door—when the virus invades the body through nose, mouth, or eyes,” she said. “Our study points to certain tea infusions that may kill the virus upon direct contact at considered one of these doors: the mouth.”
Should You Drink Tea If You Have COVID?
Whether tea is a must have for infected individuals is yet to be determined.
“Our study was done within the laboratory on viruses in test tubes,” Malak said. “The virus repeatedly replicates, increasing in numbers on the entry sites corresponding to nose or mouth, and it might move fast to the lung. That’s after we see severe disease. So, drinking or gargling with tea alone won’t protect your lungs.”
While she added that tea by itself will not be a sound COVID intervention and mustn’t replace medical treatment, “picking a habit like drinking tea or gargling with it may very well be an extra intervention layer added to the known toolkit of intervention strategies.”
What This Means For You
If you’ve got COVID, drinking and/or gargling with tea, especially black tea, may offer some profit. But it shouldn’t be viewed as a prevention or treatment strategy.
The information in this text is current as of the date listed, which suggests newer information could also be available once you read this. For essentially the most recent updates on COVID-19, visit our coronavirus news page.
