(20-04-11) Natural bioflavonoids kill hepatitis C virus

by S. L. Baker, features writer

(NaturalNews) Hepatitis C is an infectious disease of the liver that can cause
miserable symptoms including fatigue, lack of appetite, abdominal pain, nausea
and vomiting. Caused by a virus, hepatitis C affects about 200 million people
worldwide. In the U.S. alone, one to two percent of the population is infected.
Not only can this infectious disease cause scarring of the liver, cirrhosis,
and eventually liver failure, but a significant number of people with hepatitis
C also develop sometimes fatal liver disease or cancer.

Mainstream medicine uses two drugs, usually prescribed together, to treat
hepatitis C: interferon and ribavirin. Unfortunately, the side effects to this
combination are often so horrendous (ranging from severe fatigue, constant flu-
type symptoms and nausea to birth defects) that a lot of hepatitis C sufferers
can't stick with the therapy. What's more, for those who do manage to keep
taking the interferon/ribavirin treatment, only about half get a positive
response.

But a new study just released shows that nature seems to be able to do what
Big Pharma can't -- kill the virus without damaging cells in the body.
Scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) have
discovered that two plant-derived bioflavonoids, catechin and naringenin,
display powerful antiviral activity on tissue culture infected with hepatitis
C.

Dr. Samuel Wheeler French Jr., MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology and
Laboratory Medicine at UCLA and researcher at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive
Cancer Center, presented the findings in an American Society for Investigative
Pathology (ASIP) symposium on "Pathobiology of Liver Injury and Fibrosis" at
the national Experimental Biology 2011 conference, which is currently underway
in Washington, D.C.

A liver pathologist, Dr. Wheeler previously found that another plant-derived
bioflavonoid, quercetin used by many people as a nutritional supplement, can
help stop production of the hepatitis C virus without any cell toxicity.

Dr. French and his research team's next step is to test catechin and
naringenin on patients with a Phase I clinical trial.

"We now have several new compounds we can test to see if they reduce virus
infection," Dr. French said in a press statement. "The positive thing about
this family of compounds is that they are non-toxic, and can be taken at high
doses. Bioflavonoids represent a very promising therapy with very few side
effects that could help millions of people."

For more information:
http://experimentalbiology.org/

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