Some are swearing by wine as Covid treatment
WHILE Guinness sales may have gone as flat an hour-old pint of plain with pubs being shut, wine has enjoyed a full-bodied boom.
And that may also be good for us in our battle against Covid-19, new research from a Chinese university has found.
Although tannins, the ‘good’ ingredient in wine, are actually the part that give you the thumping headache the morning after, they also stave off viruses, the study shows.
And an Irish importer of Italian wines has come up with a perfect, if rather crude, name for a six-bottle case to go with the research. Importers Wines Direct, based in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, are now selling their six-bottle case of Italian wines for €145 and each bottle has a ‘F*** Covid’ label – but they don’t bother with the asterisks.
Mien-Chie Hung, president of China Medical University in Taiwan, led scientific research on an anti-coronavirus treatment and discovered the tannins in wine can ‘effectively inhibit the activity of two key enzymes of the virus’.
China Medical’s lead researcher Mr Hung said: ‘The initial plan of the research is to call out natural compounds that may have an effect on SARS, and then use the protease of the new coronavirus to detect them and tannic acid was found in the result. It bears the strongest inhibitory ability.’
Mr Hung explained tannic acid is a watersoluble polyphenol compound which has antioxidants and ‘free radical scavengers’ that have anti-inflammatory effects.
During the SARS pandemic in 2003, studies proved the treatment of tannic acid is effective. But now this time the world is facing a new type of coronavirus and the research team has carried out more detailed molecular experiments involving tannins.
The principal researcher said that tannins the can prevent infection and control the growth of viruses. They are readily found in fruits such as bananas and grapes, as well as wine, tea and vegetables.
He explained tannins could be further developed as a drug for pharmaceutical treatment in the future. He believed that the consumption of adequate food and drinks with tannins is also a way to boost up one’s immunity to the virus.
Meanwhile, Wines Direct’s promotion says of their forthright label: ‘We realise some of you may express this emotion using more sophisticated vernacular – straight away, we apologise to those curse-averse.
‘Still, we can most likely get together on the overall sentiment. Thanks to our good friend and winemaker Pier Paolo Antolini in Italy, we can express this overwhelming feeling by pouring a glass of fantastic wine.
‘Pier Paolo sent Wines Direct a bottle of Amarone with the “F*** Covid” label when this all began and as days turned into months…well, it grew into a big F.U. At this stage, together with Pier Paolo, we decided to create an exclusive case with a fabulous mix of wines to share in commiseration (and our passion for great wine) with you.’