Cinnamon
Cinnamon has many medicinal uses
including appetite stimulation, treatment of arthritis, diabetes, reducing
inflammation, and helping with dyspepsia. Cinnamon can be used for
treating sore throats, cough, indigestion, abdominal cramps, intestinal spasms,
nausea, flatulence, and diarrhea. Cinnamon can also slow down the spoilage of
food spoilage. Research studies have found that cinnamon has antioxidant,
anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, and
antitumor properties. The phenolic constituents of CZ are likely to be
responsible for the anti-oxidant and free radical scavenging activity observed.
Cinnamon extracts are known to increase Tristetraprolin mRNA and protein
levels, Tristetraprolins have anti-inflammatory effects due to destabilizing of
pro-inflammatory mRNA (Ranasinghe,
2013). This could be the reason for the
anti-inflammatory actions observed. The anti-microbial action is considered to
arise mainly from the potential of hydrophobic essential oils to disrupt the
bacterial cell membrane and its structures which leads to ion leakage (Senhaji,
2007). Antibacterial assays of the column
chromatography fractions indicated that cinnamaldehyde is the primary compound
responsible for major antibacterial activity (Senhaji,
2007). Trans-cinnamaldehyde is also known
to inhibit bacterial acetyl-CoA carboxylase (Mishra,
2008).
Sana Makki
( Cassia angustifolia)
Senna is the ornamental plants of
the family Fabaceae. Senna
(botanical name Cassia Angustifolia) is a plant best known for its medicinal
properties. It comprises dianthrone glycosides (compounds consisting of
sugar molecules bound to other molecules), as well as mucilage (a thick, gluey
substance), tannins, and flavonoids (Sultana,
Ahmad, Zafar, Khan, & Arshad, 2012). There have been ancient use of the
drug for its laxative/purgative action. The plant is located in the tropics.
Sennosides A& B is a derivative of anthraquinones at 2.5% minimal concentration. Leaves of the plants have been used for laxative/purgative
action by pediatricians, pediatric surgeons, and pediatric gastroenterologists.
Senna is described as a safe option to treat constipation. There have been some
media reports of the use of Senna in Pakistan for the prophylaxis or the
treatment of Covid-19 infection. Governor of the Sindh Province, Pakistan has
shared his experience of the use of senna (Sanna Makki) by himself when he was a
Covid-19 patient and has claimed before media the cure of disease symptoms with
the help of Sanna Makki and ginger water (Hussain
et al., 2020).
Medical professionals have described
such news for of using Senna in Covid-19 as unproven, baseless and misleading
and warned the public not to use the herb to avoid unintended side effects that
outweigh some of its health benefits. Word “Senna” was combined with the word “Covid-19”
using the AND boolean and searching the results at Pubmed advanced database.
There was none retrieval of clinical evidence regarding the use and
effectiveness of Senna in the Covid-19 infection. Only two articles were
retrieved from the search that was unrelated to the clinical use of Senna. There has been no availability of any peer-reviewed
or published clinical description regarding the use of senna in the Covid-19. The
drug has been approved by FDA for its use in constipation/laxative action and
is included among the Over Counter (OTCs) Drugs requiring no prescription.4
Gastrointestinal symptoms have been reported due to Covid-19 and have been
included in the symptoms of the disease. The use of laxatives in GIT symptoms can synergize
the motility leading to diarrheal symptoms and dehydration affecting the
electrolyte balance of the patients.
Loss of nutrients in diarrhea and vomiting can also reduce the immunity
of patients reducing the powerful natural defense of the body versus the
Covid-19 (Hussain
et al., 2020).
It has been recommendations of American herbal
products associations (AHPA) regarding the labeling instructions of the senna
leave products to not use them if having diarrhea or abdominal pain and
requiring the consultation of health care provider for use in pregnant and
nursing mothers as the constituents of senna irritate the bowl linings for
laxative action. Medicinal plants have common anti-inflammatory properties in
providing symptomatic relief in common cold, fever, and sore throat. The myth
of senna use in Covid-19 has started from such bases. However green tea, honey,
etc can be safely used in such symptoms for the much better desirable antiviral
and anti-inflammatory properties than with Senna (Hussain
et al., 2020).
Use of Senna in Covid-19 patients has been
strongly discouraged due to its enormous side effects like diarrhea, water
loss, electrolyte imbalance, and hypokalemia.
Such side effects can be harsh for those patients already in critical
conditions. There have been many reported interactions of senna with many drugs
and it is not suited for heart, liver, and kidney patients. Thereby the use of
Senna remains unpredictable and the risks can outweigh the benefits. Senna can also not be used for a long time
due to the possibility of its dependency on laxatives. WHO has encouraged clinical investigations to find safe and effective herbs in the treatment of Covid-19.
Senna leaves may not be used for the prophylaxis or treatment of Covid-19
without having any sufficient clinical data as the drug is a potent laxative
and can raise the complications of Covid-19 patients instead of Benefits by augmenting diarrhea and other
Gastrointestinal problems (Hussain
et al., 2020). Further research is needed in this
field.
Garlic
Allium
sativum, garlic in
English, belongs to the Alliaceae family (Delaha,
1985). Garlic is a plant having medicinal
properties and have antiviral effects can be regarded as an alternative to
vaccination or at least can be added to the vaccination programs (de
Wit, 2014). For thousands of years,
garlic has been used as a medication for common colds, influenza, and other
kinds of infections (Najjaa,
Neffati, Zouari, & Ammar, 2007; Romeilah, Fayed, & Mahmoud, 2010). The oil is also proven to be
conducive to hypoglycemia, hypotension, antithrombotic, immunomodulatory, and
prebiotic therapy. Besides, allicin is a typical reactive sulfur species found
in the essential oil (Chekki,
Snoussi, Hamrouni, & Bouzouita, 2014).
The sulfur content in the garlic
make it antiviral and cures for disease, so entire garlic oil is appropriate
for the prevention and treatment of pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2 (Thuy
et al., 2020). It inhibits the ACE2 protein is of great significance to the orientation of using the garlic essential oil in the
prevention and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 in specific and other viruses causing
flu or pneumonia in general. Results show that the effect of the garlic essential
oil on the virus-host receptor (ACE2) inhibition and SARS-CoV-2 resistance. Therefore,
it is possible to use each compound in garlic essential oil or the whole
essential oil system to act simultaneously on the ACE2 protein and the PDB6LU7
protein (Thuy
et al., 2020).
The compounds in the garlic
essential oil inhibits the ACE2 protein, leading the virus to lose the host receptor
and attacking the protein the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 at the same time.
This prevents protein maturation of the virus and the spread of infection.
Docking simulation suggests the active binding site of most active compounds in
garlic essential oil with the ACE2 protein and the PDB6LU7 protein. From the analysis
of the docking data, it is revealed that 17 (T1−T17) out of 18 compounds of the
garlic essential oil are capable of inhibiting ACE2 and resisting SARS-CoV-2
and that the total content of these 17 compounds accounts for 99.4% (Thuy
et al., 2020).
Ginger
The pharmacokinetics and toxicity study showed that Gingerol the active compound of ginger had good drug-likeness and could induce minimal toxicity in humans. It is evident from the molecular docking analysis that the selected compound Gingerol have a favorable binding affinity towards the proteases. Further experimental studies are therefore recommended to prove the efficacy of this Phyto-compound against the entry and replication of coronavirus (Oso et al., 2020).
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