Garlic: beneficial for health on its own, but does not protect against Covid-19. Along with the coronavirus, panic is spreading across the planet, as well as advice on how to protect yourself from it. This advice does not always come from qualified specialists and is often useless. Below we list several suggested methods and study their effectiveness with specialists.
Many social media users recommend eating garlic to prevent infection. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes garlic as a healthy food that has some antimicrobial properties, but there is no evidence that it protects against the new coronavirus. Garlic itself is not dangerous as long as people who use it for medicinal purposes follow the recommendations of doctors. But if someone starts to prefer this or other “folk” methods of prevention over all others and neglects the advice of qualified specialists, it can be dangerous for health.
Fruits and vegetables are good for health, but they are useless in preventing infection with this new virus. Eating large amounts of garlic can itself cause problems. For example, the South China Morning Post reported on a woman who was hospitalized with a sore throat after consuming one and a half kilograms of garlic.
Popular YouTube blogger Jordan Sazer claims that the “Miracle Mineral Supplement” (MMS) saves from the coronavirus. The supplement contains chlorine dioxide. Sazer, like some other influencers, promoted this “miracle cure” before the outbreak of the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Back in January, he wrote on Twitter: “Chlorine dioxide (MMS) is an effective remedy for destroying cancer cells, but it will also help to avoid coronavirus infection”. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that research has not proven the safety and effectiveness of chlorine dioxide and that its use can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and symptoms of severe dehydration. Regulatory agencies in other countries have joined the FDA in issuing this warning.
People around the world are buying up hand sanitizers. Many stores have run out of disinfectant gel, and instructions on how to make gel at home are popular on the Internet. However, some of these homemade gels are not suitable for human skin. Ordinary hand gels that are currently sold in stores usually contain not only alcohol (60-70%), but also moisturizers that are not readily available to everyone. Sometimes these recipes suggest the use of alcoholic beverages, but even the strongest ones rarely exceed 60% alcohol. The BBC’s Russian science correspondent Nikolay Voronin recommends making a homemade disinfectant with alcohol that is 60° or higher.
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One of the guests on the television show of Jim Bakker, an American televangelist, called for the use of colloidal silver for protection against the coronavirus. According to him, the liquid in which the tiny particles of silver are dissolved kills certain strains of coronavirus within 12 hours. However, he admitted that he currently had no information on Covid-19. The news that liquid silver can be effective in fighting coronaviruses has spread through social networks, especially in communities skeptical of traditional medicine. Proponents of this product believe that it can treat various diseases, act as an antiseptic, and strengthen the immune system. However, U.S. authorities warn that the beneficial properties of colloidal silver have not been proven. In addition, its use can cause serious side effects such as kidney dysfunction, seizures, and argyria – an irreversible change in skin color. Doctors say that unlike iron and zinc, silver does not perform any functions in the human body. “Facebook” now accompanies some posts about the benefits of colloidal silver with a disclaimer stating that they contain inaccurate information.
A post on Facebook quoting a “Japanese doctor” who recommends drinking water every 15 minutes to wash the virus out of the mouth has gone viral. Drinking plenty of water is beneficial for many reasons, but protecting against coronavirus is not one of them. Doctors are skeptical about this advice: the virus enters the body through the respiratory tract. But even if the virus enters the mouth, drinking water won’t help. But in general, drinking water is beneficial.
The message, attributed to Unicef, has spread widely that hot water helps to avoid the coronavirus: it is necessary to drink as much of it as possible, as well as to be in the sun more often, and then the coronavirus will allegedly not reach you. There are also recommendations to take hot baths for the same purpose. Charlotte Gornitska of Unicef says: “Recently, false claims have been circulating on the Internet, purportedly on behalf of Unicef, that we should avoid ice cream and other cold foods, and that this measure will help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. This, of course, is complete nonsense. We know that the influenza virus does not survive outside the human body during the summer period, but we do not know the effect of high temperatures on the new coronavirus.
A hot bath will not protect against the coronavirus, but it may reduce excessive fear of it. According to Professor Sallie Bloomfield of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, heating your body or sunbathing will not protect you from the coronavirus. If the virus enters your body, only your own immune system can deal with it. In addition, an increase in the outside temperature does not increase the temperature of the human body.