Unravelling the Immune Modulatory Effect of Indian Spices to Impede the Transmission of COVID-19: A Promising Approach

Abstract

: Months after WHO declared COVID-19 as a Global Public Health Emergency of International Concern, it does not seem to be flattening the curve as we are still devoid of an effective vaccine and treatment modality. Amid such uncertainty, being immune is the best strategy to defend against corona attack. As the whole world is referring back to immune-boosting grandma remedies, interest is rekindled in the Indian system of Medicine, which is gifted with an abundance of herbal medicines as well as remedies. Among them, spices (root, rhizome, seed, fruit, leaf, bud, and flower of various plants used to add taste and flavors to food) are bestowed with immense medicinal potential. A plethora of clinical as well as preclinical studies reported the effectiveness of various spices for various ailments. The potential immune-boosting properties together with its excellent safety profile are making spices the current choice of Phyto-research as well as the immune-boosting home remedies during these sceptical times. The present review critically evaluates the immune impact of various Indian spices and their potential to tackle the novel coronavirus, with comments on the safety and toxicity aspects of spices.

Immunity boosters in COVID-19: Reality or myth?

“…Moreover, few scientific investigations confirm their efficacy in bettering the immune response, at least on few parameters, in some of the pathophysiological conditions. [9,10,33,34] However, determination of the qualitative and quantitative consequences of any intervention on "Immunome" through "Immunomics" analysis is recommended for effective clinical development of any strategy. [35] Although, scientific consent for strategies other than vaccinations as "immunity boosters" is absent, societal acceptance for the term prevail over it.…”

“…[39] Compounds derived from plants have been shown to display a range of immunomodulatory activities. [5,9,10,33,34,40] A diverse range of immunomodulatory activities both of stimulatory and inhibitory nature are evident through experimental investigations. [36,40] e immune-modulatory potentials of herbal compounds in various pathologies including those of infectious as well as malignant origins are evident.…”

Potential Immunomodulatory Properties of Biologically Active Components of Spices Against SARS-CoV-2 and Pan β-Coronaviruses

“…Over the years, research into their beneficial health effects has gained momentum as spices aid in preventing and treating various chronic diseases (Bi et al, 2017;Kunnumakkara et al, 2018). To date, several works have been published associating spices with disease severity and mortality in COVID-19 (Gupta et al, 2020;Devan et al, 2021;Kunnumakkara et al, 2021;Rajan et al, 2021;Singh et al, 2021;Vicidomini et al, 2021), but the possible mechanisms of immune-modulatory action of spices remain elusive.…”

“…Natural immunosuppressants in dietary sources (Peter et al, 2020;Alhazmi et al, 2021) and bioactive components in spices (Gupta et al, 2020;Devan et al, 2021;Kunnumakkara et al, 2021;Rajan et al, 2021) might offer a novel therapeutic and practical approach to fighting against COVID-19 and pan-CoV infection by providing protective immunity. Dietary components, as discussed, can provide antiviral effects by reducing oxidative stress and balancing pro-inflammatory and or anti-inflammatory mediators to maintain cellular and immune homeostasis.…”

“…Dietary components, as discussed, can provide antiviral effects by reducing oxidative stress and balancing pro-inflammatory and or anti-inflammatory mediators to maintain cellular and immune homeostasis. Thus, protecting the cells from oxidative damage and aberrant tissue damage, as evident in SARS-CoV-2 patients Gupta et al, 2020;Peter et al, 2020;Alhazmi et al, 2021;Devan et al, 2021;Kunnumakkara et al, 2021;Rajan et al, 2021).…”