Ibed decades ago and has been experimentally confirmed on herpes virus type 1 and 2, human papiloma virus, H1N1 influenza virus, dengue virus, rhinovirus, hepatitis A virus, enteroviruses, and coronaviruses. They have been used in the food and skincare industry for ages and their antiviral capacity has been descr Carrageenans are commercially available in the form of kappa (κ), iota (ι) or lambda (λ). Significantly, Iota-carrageenan has already been shown to exhibit antiviral activity through its interaction with the viral surface, which prevents viral entry and captures viral particles released by infected cells.Ĭarrageenans are linear sulfated polysaccharides that are often extracted from red seaweeds. Numerous studies have shown that during the early stages of infection, the main sites of viral replication are the nasal cavity and the nasopharynx.ĭr Vega added, “Therefore, the use of antiviral nasal sprays would contribute to reducing nasal and nasopharyngeal viral load, thus slowing down the disease progression in the treated patient and the disease transmission to others in close contact with him or her.” To date, there are no effective preventive or treatment approaches, and there is an urgent need to provide easily accessible, affordable therapies that can stop transmission and serve as early treatments. Both are included in nasal formulations already on the market for use in children and adults.” The researchers say the concentrations at which the compounds showed antiviral activity could easily be achieved with the application of nasal sprays that are already commercially available in a number of countries.ĭr Vega told Thailand Medical News, “Both iota-carrageenan and xylitol are safe for humans, being used in much larger amounts as food additive and sweetener, respectively, than those that may be used for nasal delivery. The study team says that xylitol, in combination with iota-carrageenan, may also be beneficial. In addition, a low concentration of a hardwood extract called xylitol, which is commonly used as a sugar substitute, also inhibited SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. In the study, it was found that iota-carrageenan, which is commonly used as a thickening agent in food products, successfully inhibited SARS-CoV-2 in cell cultures at a concentration as low as 6 µg/mL.ĭr Julio César Vega at Amcyte Pharma and colleagues at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Fundación Pablo Cassará, Argentina, say the results suggest that the clinical use of iota-carrageenan nasal spray may help to prevent and treat COVID-19. The research findings were published on a preprint server and are currently being peer-reviewed. Further research on nasal iota-carrageenan is warranted.COVID-19 Research: A study led by researchers from University of Tennessee, Amcyte Pharmaceutical Inc, 3LogixBio Inc and researchers from Argentina have demonstrated the antiviral effects of three candidate nasal spray formulations against the SARS-CoV-2, the agent that causes the COVID-19 disease that were based using a seaweed extract called Iota-Carrageenan and also Xylitol an artificial sweetener. Given that carrageenan has an effect on diverse virus groups, and effects at the clinical level on two old coronaviruses, it seems plausible that carrageenan may have an effect on COVID-19. In the placebo group, 21 patients had colds lasting over 20 days, compared with six patients in the carrageenan group, which corresponds to a 71% (p = .003) reduction in the risk of longer colds. Carrageenan had no meaningful effect on shorter colds. The 13.7-day colds were shortened by 3.8 days (28% reduction), and 8.8-day colds by 1.3 days (15% reduction). The fifth quintile contained patients with censored data.

The mean duration of all colds in the placebo groups of the first four quintiles were 4.0, 6.8, 8.8, and 13.7 days, respectively. The increase in recovery rate was 139% for coronavirus infections, 119% for influenza A infections, and 70% for rhinovirus infections.

Nasal carrageenan increased the recovery rate from all colds by 54% (95% CI 15%-105% p = .003). We also used quantile regression to calculate the effect of carrageenan on colds of differing lengths. We used Cox regression to estimate the effect of carrageenan on recovery rate. In both trials, iota-carrageenan was administered nasally three times per day for 7 days for patients with the common cold and follow-up lasted for 21 days. In this individual patient data meta-analysis we examined datasets of two randomized placebo-controlled trials which investigated the effect of nasal carrageenan separately on children and adults.

Iota carrageenan nasal spray