Antiviral Effects of Anthocyanins and Phytochemicals as Natural Dietary Compounds on Different Virus Sources

Dhriti Choudhary¹ and Min-Hsiung Pan^1,2,3*

¹Institute of Food Sciences and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

²Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.

³Department of Health and Nutrition Biotechnology, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan.

Corresponding Author Email: mhpan@ntu.edu.tw

Virus, an infectious agent is the main reason causing the deaths by life-threatening diseases, including HIV, cancer, influenza, herpes, dengue, hepatitis, chikungunya all around the world. Virus infections are a global health concern, due to worldwide travel and gradual modernization, the viral eruption is an epidemic menace and can be avoided by minimizing publicity to infectious viruses. Even with so many precautions, viral diseases can still spread and cause great risk to human health and requires proper sanitation by disinfectants or anti-viral agents. Very few vaccines are available that can effectively treat viral infections. As there are many advances progressing in the health care sector, there are some efficient anti-viral treatments and therapies, still some virus does not have effective vaccinations and therapies yet. For the past few years, there has been an intensive effort to study the defense mechanism of natural products such as foods and drinks we normally consume in our day-to-day life that may inhibit some anti-viral activities and some advantages over synthetic vaccines. The development of natural vaccines, that work against the virus is still a major goal. As it has been identified that the natural dietary compounds such as phytochemicals, anthocyanins, flavonoids, curcumins, polyphenols, and many more have some health benefit properties which may include anti-inflammation, anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-fungal activities. This mini-review generally summarizes the antiviral activities of anthocyanins and phytochemicals from various natural plant sources on different virus origins.

Anthocyanin; Anti-Viral; Natural Compounds; Phytochemicals; Vaccine; Viral Disease

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