Benefits of Elderberries
Health Benefits of Elderberries
There is a little berry people have used for hundreds of years to help maintain a healthy immune system, and to help during the dreaded cold and flu seasons, and that berry is...elderberry. Elderberries are a wonderful little gift hanging from their trees that work in your body to boost your immune system and particularly fight off viruses.
Research recently done in Sydney, Australia “showed that compounds from elderberries can directly inhibit the virus's entry and replication in human cells, and can help strengthen a person's immune response to the virus.” - (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190423133644.htm ). This is exactly what you want happening when the flu virus is spreading from house to house. It prevents or stops the virus from even entering the body and for the virus that does get in, it prevents it from replicating, which is what viruses do that cause so much harm and illness.
The article continues “"What our study has shown is that the common elderberry has a potent direct antiviral effect against the flu virus," said Dr Golnoosh Torabian. "It inhibits the early stages of an infection by blocking key viral proteins responsible for both the viral attachment and entry into the host cells." The researchers used commercially farmed elderberries which were turned into a juice serum and were applied to cells before, during and after they had been infected with the influenza virus. The phytochemicals from the elderberry juice were shown to be effective at stopping the virus infecting the cells, however to the surprise of the researchers they were even more effective at inhibiting viral propagation at later stages of the influenza cycle when the cells had already been infected with the virus. "This observation was quite surprising and rather significant because blocking the viral cycle at several stages has a higher chance of inhibiting the viral infection," explained Dr Peter Valtchev.”
To recap that last part, even when cells were already infected with influenza virus, the phytochemicals from the elderberries were able to prevent or slow down the propagation, or reproduction, of the flu in latter stages. Being able to stop or slow down the spread of the virus in your system is something that pharmaceutical companies have been trying to figure out for years.
So what about the common cold virus, also known as the coronavirus? Here is a study by the US National US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health – titled Sambucus nigra extracts inhibit infectious bronchitis virus at an early point during replication
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3899428/ which says “These results demonstrate that S. nigra (Sambuca Nigra- aka the elderberry) extract can inhibit IBV at an early point in infection, probably by rendering the virus non-infectious. They also suggest that future studies using S. nigra extract to treat or prevent IBV or other coronaviruses are warranted.“ Now understand, this is an infectious bronchitis virus, which is a pathogenic chicken virus, but there are other reports of similar studies replicating a similar affect on other strains of viral infections.
In a paper written by Dr. Heather Zwickey, PhD titled “Thinking about Coronavirus from an Infectious Disease Perspective” https://cdn.ymaws.com/naturopathic.org/resource/resmgr/documents/covid19/clinical_resources/zwickey_-_thinking_about_cor.pdf Dr. Zwickey states “Elderberry’s effect on virus is different than many other herbs. It appears to affect lipid rafts, which means that it can inhibit viral uptake and viral budding. This is mechanism that would make elderberry important for any viral infection, including SARS-CoV2.” Again, these studies, though not extensive, seem to back up the long understanding that the elderberry's affect on viral illness is not just a myth or scam. We are now beginning to understand why it works so well.
One of the rumors that went viral (no pun intended) last year was that elderberries will cause a dangerous cytokine storm that will kill everybody and everything. Well that just appears to be false from everything I can actually find on the topic. Dr. Zwickey goes on to say “Elderberry does not stimulate a cytokine storm in any research study. In fact, elderberry can reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inflammatory cytokine secretion by blocking NF-kB pathways. While this study was not in an infectious disease model, the lack of reports of cytokine storms is significant considering that clinical trials have been completed.” So for those that are concerned about the risk of elderberry syrup or tinctures causing a life ending cytokine storm, don't. Like with anything else you take every day in your life, if you feel it is having negative affects, or you are having some sort of allergic reaction to it, stop taking it.
Now you may be asking, so how can I get these little berries to benefit me? How about here – http://www.elderberrykit.com. We harvest these elderberries from the wild. There are no sprays, no fertilizers, no chemicals that are used on these trees. They grow wild, and we hunt them down and harvest them. This elderberry has been instrumental in this family of 9 to remain healthy, even during the flu season. We have taken throughout the COVID-19 scare, and now that flu season is around the corner, we will continue to take it. With this kit you can make up to half a gallon of elderberry syrup, and this one has a total of 10 ingredients, all selected for their health benefits, and it just so happens, they taste amazing.
Check us out here http://www.elderberrykit.com