Tannins in wine could help to inhibit Covid-19

Research from Taiwan shows that tannins in wine can help fight Covid-19 by effectively inhibiting the activity of two key enzymes within the virus.

Mien-Chie Hung, President of China Medical University, Taiwan, led a scientific research on the anti-coronavirus treatment. They discovered that tannins in wine can effectively inhibit the activity of two key enzymes of the virus.

As TVBS reported, Hung said: “The initial plan of the research is to call out natural compounds that may have an effect on SARS, and then use the protease of the new coronavirus to detect them and tannic acid was found in the result. It bears the strongest inhibitory ability.”

Hung explained tannic acid is a water-soluble polyphenol. Polyphenol compounds have antioxidants and free radical scavengers, which have anti-inflammatory effects.

During the SARS pandemic in 2003, relevant studies have proved that the treatment of tannic acid is effective. This time we are facing a new type of coronavirus and the research team has further performed detailed molecular experiments for new discovery.

The principal said that tannins can prevent infection and control the growth of viruses. Tannins are readily found in fruits such as bananas and grapes, as well as wine, tea and vegetables.

He explained tannins could be further developed as a drug for pharmaceutical treatment in the future. He believed that the consumption of adequate food and drinks with tannins is also a way to boost up one’s immunity to the virus.

“Grape and sorghum have relatively high tannin content. In fact, we are doing research in this area. We hope that in near future, we can come up with the decision of whether wine or baijiu is more potent in tannins.”