Green tea, dark chocolate and grapes have compounds that can help beat corona. Sounds surprising, right? Let us see what researchers have claimed about this.

As per a research done by North Carolina State University, chemical compounds found in green tea, dark chocolate and grapes can bind to and block the function of a particular enzyme, or protease, in corona virus. "Proteases are important to the health and viability of cells and viruses. If proteases are inhibited, cells cannot perform many important functions - like replication, for example," said study author De-Yu Xie from the North Carolina State University in the US. "One of our lab's focuses is to find nutraceuticals in food or medicinal plants that inhibit either how a virus attaches to human cells or the propagation of a virus in human cells," Xie added.

The research team performed both lab studies and computer simulations showing how the main protease in the virus reacted when confronted with a number of different plant chemical compounds already known for their protein anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties.

The main protease is required for the virus to replicate and assemble itself. If the protease is inhibited or deactivated, the virus will die. The chemical compounds found in dark chocolate, green tea and muscadine grapes were able to bind 2 different portions of the main protease.

"Mpro (main protease) has a portion that is like a 'pocket' that was 'filled' by the chemical compounds. When this pocket was filled, the protease lost its important function," Xie explained. Lab experiments also showed similar results. Green tea has five tested chemical compounds that bind to different sites in the pocket on Mpro, essentially overwhelming it to inhibit its function," Xie said.

"Muscadine grapes contain these inhibitory chemicals in their skins and seeds. Plants use these compounds to protect themselves, so it is not surprising that plant leaves and skins contain these beneficial compounds," the author noted. Chemical compounds in cacao powder and dark chocolate reduced main protease’s activity by about half.

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