Elderberries are Flu-Fighters (New Study)

One summer day a few years ago our younger son pointed out various exotic trees as we walked around our neighborhood.  One with clumps of  luscious blue-black berries caught my eye.  Black Elderberry.  I asked if the berries were edible, and he said they were.  And the black elderberry (Sambucus racermosa ssp pubens var melanocarpa) is native to our Vancouver Island.  As someone wanting to grow only native trees in my yard, I have the ethical go-ahead. (To read about why we should grow native trees if we grow trees, see this article about botanist Diana Beresford-Kroeger.)

And... did the berries not have some medicinal benefits? I wondered aloud.  He told me that indeed elderberries were noteworthy for staving off and remedying colds  coughs, sore throats and flu. 

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A New Study from the University of Sydney, Australia, published in 2019 in the Journal of Functional Foods... shows that this amazing berry contains phytochemicals that can throw up barriers to the flu virus, preventing it from entering or glomming onto our healthy cells when you take elderberries as a preventative measure during the flu and cold season.

Even more amazing is the berries' phytochemical ability to avoid a present virus from taking hold and replicating, getting rid of all symptoms in about 48 hours.  

The researchers made a juice from commercially-grown berries, and from the juice they made a serum that they applied to cells (1)before, (2)during and (3)following infection with the influenza virus.  The lead researcher, Dr.Golinoosh Torabian, noted "a potent direct antiviral effect against the flu virus."  Torabian went on to explain: "I inhibits the early stages of an infection by blocking key viral proteins responsible for both the viral attachment and entry into the cells."

Even in the later stages of the viral infection, the serum appeared to be strong in overcoming the infection by the release of cytokines.  These immunologic chemical messengers were stimulated by the infection, and went about communicating between cells in the body so that there was an all-out effective campaign against the viral infection.

You can watch Anthony William, the Medical Medium,  show you a recipe for homemade Elderberry Syrup here: