Elderberry Powder 50 Grams

People have used elderberry for its health benefits for hundreds of years.

Elderberry contains antioxidants, and many believe it can relieve colds, fight the flu, and boost the immune system.

According to a new study that researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia conducted, elderberries really do have antiviral properties, and they can fight a virus once an infection has already occurred.

In a study paper that appears in the Journal of Functional Foods, the investigators report that substances present in elderberries can stop an influenza virus from entering and replicating in human cells.

“What our study has shown is that the common elderberry has a potent direct antiviral effect against the flu virus,” says one of the study’s co-authors, Golnoosh Torabian, Ph.D.

“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 scientist continues.

In their study, the researchers examined the effect of commercially farmed elderberries that they processed into a serum. This the investigators administered to cells at multiple different stages of the influenza cycle, including before infection with a flu virus and during infection.

The scientists found that the phytochemicals — the natural, plant-derived substances that the elderberry serum contained — had a “mild inhibitory effect” when the flu virus was just about to infect a cell.

However, once a cell already contained infection, the same chemicals were significantly effective in stopping the virus from propagating.

“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,” says co-author Peter Valtchev, Ph.D.