Elderberries Block Flu Virus From Attaching To and Entering Human Cells

[Laura]

Yesterday, Andromeda followed this recipe:

The berry tea is prepared by boiling 10-15g of dried berries in half a liter of water for 10 minutes, letting it stand for 10 minutes and strain. Add lemon juice, sweeten (if needed) and drink during the day. This tea may have a mild laxative effect.

She made a 2 liter pitcher with 60 grams of dried berries.

Everyone in the house had a glass at some point and the pitcher was empty this morning, so it was apparently pretty good. She sweetened it with erythritol.

Maybe, during virus seasons, people should have this as a breakfast drink every day just for prevention?

 

[Ant22]

I found out the hard way, half an hour before a job interview, that eating them without cooking/boiling can lead to nausea and vomiting.(I was excited to try them and they sort of smelled chocolatey )So I'd say making a smoothie is a no-go unless you do it with the leftover pulp after making tea with them. I personally let them steep for 15 min, and havent done that with more than a teaspoon of the dehydrated ones at a time.

So far, between drinking that tea daily and doing intermittent fasting, I've avoided getting sick, even when surrounded by sick people, FWIW.

She made a 2 liter pitcher with 60 grams of dried berries.

The berry tea is prepared by boiling 10-15g of dried berries in half a liter of water for 10 minutes, letting it stand for 10 minutes and strain. Add lemon juice, sweeten (if needed) and drink during the day. This tea may have a mild laxative effect.

Everyone in the house had a glass at some point and the pitcher was empty this morning, so it was apparently pretty good. She sweetened it with erythritol.

Maybe, during virus seasons, people should have this as a breakfast drink every day just for prevention?

I thought I'd add my experience with elderberries too. I boiled around 3 handfuls of them in 2 litres of water for 45 minutes. Half of the water evaporated as I forgot to close the lid properly, so the concoction was quite strong.

I had a glass of it the next day, I blended the berries with the tea but I only gave them a quick spin in the blender, maybe 3 seconds or so. I noticed this separated the flesh of the berries from the seeds inside. The seeds were at the bottom of the glass when I finished my drink.

I felt very well the entire day, no issues whatsoever. Encouraged by this I decided to have another glass of my tea in the evening. This time I left the blended on for a good minute or more. The seeds became liquidised and the drank the whole thing.

This turned out to be a big mistake.

It made me really nauseous and little of that tea was left in my stomach within the next hour (to avoid being too graphic). I also had a terrible and sleepless night, let's just say that the laxative effect wasn't mild, as per Laura's post. My digestive system didn't calm down until around midday the next day and I felt really weak and thirsty all day.

My diet is quite boring and repetitive, I don't take any supplements apart from vitamin C and iodine (recently resumed at low doses) anymore. I mostly eat the same things so I can confirm there was nothing else that could have caused that reaction.

I guess the seeds may need more boiling time - or simply shouldn't be consumed at all. They're really tough, high temperature may have not fully penetrated inside them.

If my experience is anything to go by, then unless someone is up for a colonic cleanse I'd suggest avoiding eating whole elderberries The tea seems to be a safer option. They're quite potent too, based on Laura's recipe I added too much dried fruit to my tea. Maybe that's why it didn't tase too nice. Kind of like berry tea mixed with raw potato juice.

 

[Mrs. Peel]

Is there any recommended dosage for taking them in pill form?

 

[Temperance]

I thought I'd add my experience with elderberries too. I boiled around 3 handfuls of them in 2 litres of water for 45 minutes. Half of the water evaporated as I forgot to close the lid properly, so the concoction was quite strong.

I had a glass of it the next day, I blended the berries with the tea but I only gave them a quick spin in the blender, maybe 3 seconds or so. I noticed this separated the flesh of the berries from the seeds inside. The seeds were at the bottom of the glass when I finished my drink.

I felt very well the entire day, no issues whatsoever. Encouraged by this I decided to have another glass of my tea in the evening. This time I left the blended on for a good minute or more. The seeds became liquidised and the drank the whole thing.

This turned out to be a big mistake.

It made me really nauseous and little of that tea was left in my stomach within the next hour (to avoid being too graphic). I also had a terrible and sleepless night, let's just say that the laxative effect wasn't mild, as per Laura's post. My digestive system didn't calm down until around midday the next day and I felt really weak and thirsty all day.

My diet is quite boring and repetitive, I don't take any supplements apart from vitamin C and iodine (recently resumed at low doses) anymore. I mostly eat the same things so I can confirm there was nothing else that could have caused that reaction.

I guess the seeds may need more boiling time - or simply shouldn't be consumed at all. They're really tough, high temperature may have not fully penetrated inside them.

If my experience is anything to go by, then unless someone is up for a colonic cleanse I'd suggest avoiding eating whole elderberries The tea seems to be a safer option. They're quite potent too, based on Laura's recipe I added too much dried fruit to my tea. Maybe that's why it didn't tase too nice. Kind of like berry tea mixed with raw potato juice.

That sounds like a rough experience I had consumed the seeds in my initial trial too.
So it seems like the seeds are probably the biggest culprit, since 45 minutes of boiling is quite some time. I try to squeeze some pulp through a strainer when I finish steeping my tea, and discard the seeds. Laura's suggestion to drink it in the morning seems like a good idea, since when I've drank it at night it seems to cause slight digestive discomfort and lower quality sleep.

I'm doing 1 tsp(2g) of dried berries in 6-8oz(170-230mL) of water. I pour the boiling water on them, and let it sit for 15 minutes covered, then strain. After conversions, this boils down to 9grams of berries in 1 liter. So I'm at about a third the concentration of Andromeda's recipe, fwiw.

Is there any recommended dosage for taking them in pill form?

Hi Mrs. Peel! I'm seeing capsules with varying concentrations of 300mg to 2000mg elderberry(extract?). I'm not sure what the effective dose used in studies was. They also sell it in the form of gummies and tinctures.

The one I bought was the Starwest Botanicals brand, but it's in dried berry form, which needs to be processed into the tea, not capsule form.

Edit: P.S., those dosages are from the brands on amazon, also, I bought the berries from amazon.
2nd edit: Name for privacy

 

[Eboard10]

Does anyone recommend a specific brand in Europe to prepare the tea?

I had a look on a couple of marketplaces and they come in 2 different shapes: one more like whole elderberries that are dried (first image), the other is more like dried elder flowers (second image):

 

[Sergey]

"Elderberry Flowers Black" for colds, flu, angina, bronchitis,sold in Ukraine,brew like tea.

 

[Laura]

Does anyone recommend a specific brand in Europe to prepare the tea?

I had a look on a couple of marketplaces and they come in 2 different shapes: one more like whole elderberries that are dried (first image), the other is more like dried elder flowers (second image):

View attachment 33719

View attachment 33720

I think that drinks/teas made from one or the other are for different purposes? There are some recipes online.

70+ Elderberry Recipes & Remedies for Food & Health

It’s no secret that elderberries are a superfood with many undisputed health benefits! These tasty elderberry recipes will leave you with tons of ideas of how to use these immune-boosting wild berries

www.growforagecookferment.com

 

[Eboard10]

I think that drinks/teas made from one or the other are for different purposes? There are some recipes online.

70+ Elderberry Recipes & Remedies for Food & Health

It’s no secret that elderberries are a superfood with many undisputed health benefits! These tasty elderberry recipes will leave you with tons of ideas of how to use these immune-boosting wild berries

www.growforagecookferment.com

Yes, but is the the one you use to prepare the tea closer to one of them? or do you dry the elderberries yourself?

 

[Laura]

Yes, but is the the one you use to prepare the tea closer to one of them? or do you dry the elderberries yourself?

You can probably use fresh elderberries, elderberries you have dried yourself, or elderberries you have bought somewhere. We bought them on amazon.com - berries and flowers, both dried.

 

[Mrs. Peel]

Hi Mrs. Peel! I'm seeing capsules with varying concentrations of 300mg to 2000mg elderberry(extract?). I'm not sure what the effective dose used in studies was. They also sell it in the form of gummies and tinctures.

The one I bought was the Starwest Botanicals brand, but it's in dried berry form, which needs to be processed into the tea, not capsule form.

Hi, yes, I've noticed the capsules come in different strengths. Quite a difference though between taking 300mg and taking 2000mg. Was just wondering if anyone found any recommendations in any of the research on that. I'll poke around a bit myself.

 

[Mrs. Peel]

OK, I tried to edit the above but ran out of time.

A quick search of Google provided a lot of links to "do elderberries help fight the flu?" but not much of mention of specific dosages other than "32 people with flu-like symptoms took lozenges containing 175 milligrams (mg) of elderberry extract four times a day for 2 day" and "People took lozenges containing 300 mg of elderberry extract and 150 mg of rice flour twice a day for 10 days before traveling."

One article stated:

"Elderberry can increase the effects of diuretics or diabetes medications. It can also support or boost the immune system. While that’s usually a good thing, if you have an overactive immune system, an autoimmune disorder or you’re taking medications to suppress your immune system, elderberry could pose a problem."

Not sure if that has been mentioned previously, or of its validity.

 

[hlat]

My kids have been eating these elderberry gummies for a few years. Could be an option if kids refuse other forms.

Nature's Way Sambucus™ Gummies

Gummies made with a triple action blend of high potency vitamin C, zinc, and highly concentrated black elderberry extract to support immune health.*

www.naturesway.com

 

[Konstantin]

In the mountains near the place where I live there are a lot of these plants. People are using only the elderberry flower, not the berries.
When I was a child I remember once we went to the mountains and collected a lot of elderberry flowers.

The adults back then told us that we could make a wonderful juice from the flowers. And I still remember the taste of that juice. I just love it.
But older people told us that we should not drink it in big quantities and very often and that was very important especially for males.

I searched a little and I found that flower extract contains phytoestrogens.

Effects of Phytoestrogen Extracts Isolated from Elder Flower on Hormone Production and Receptor Expression of Trophoblast Tumor Cells JEG-3 and BeWo, as well as MCF7 Breast Cancer Cells

Herein we investigated the effect of elderflower extracts (EFE) and of enterolactone/enterodiol on hormone production and proliferation of trophoblast tumor cell lines JEG-3 and BeWo, as well as MCF7 breast cancer cells. The EFE was analyzed by mass spectrometry. ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

A growing body of data points to the health benefits of phytoestrogens in diet and to possible pharmaceutical applications [1]. The two main groups of phytoestrogens, isoflavones, and lignans, are polyphenolic compounds derived from plants with a molecular structure that closely resembles mammalian estrogens [2]. Due to their molecular structure, these compounds can bind and interact with human estrogen receptors (ER) resulting in both estrogen and anti-estrogen effects [3]. Thus, it is assumed that some phytoestrogens can be classified as selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERM) [4,5].

Even today people in this area are using only the flowers and the berries are used on very rare occasions by very few people. They are considered to be very toxic.
Now I can see how can they be prepared and used. If I get a chance to collect some of them I will this spring and summer, if not I will definitely order some of them.

 

[nicklebleu]

Found this today online - glycyrryhizin, the root of liquorice is effective against the novel coronavirus:

The outbreak of SARS warrants the search for antiviral compounds to treat the disease. At present, no specific treatment has been identified for SARS-associated coronavirus infection. We assessed the antiviral potential of ribavirin, 6-azauridine, pyrazofurin, mycophenolic acid, and glycyrrhizin against two clinical isolates of coronavirus (FFM-1 and FFM-2) from patients with SARS admitted to the clinical centre of Frankfurt University, Germany. Of all the compounds, glycyrrhizin was the most active in inhibiting replication of the SARS-associated virus. Our findings suggest that glycyrrhizin should be assessed for treatment of SARS.

[...]

Glycyrrhizin has previously been used to treat patients with HIV-1 and chronic hepatitis C virus. The resulting low concentrations of P24 antigen in patients with HIV-1 who were given this compound has been attributed to upregulation of chemokines. Infrequent side-effects such as raised blood pressure and hypokalaemia were reported in some patients after several months of glycyrrhizin treatment. Treatment of SARS should only be needed for a short time. Since the side-effects of this compound are known and can be controlled for, proper monitoring could lead to effective use of glycyrrhizin as a treatment for SARS. Booth and colleagues5 reported that ribavirin had many toxic effects when given to patients with SARS, including haemolysis (76% of patients) and a drastic reduction of haemoglobin (49% of patients). However, although high doses of glycyrrhizin have been used in clinical trials, this compound had few toxic effects compared with the other regimens, and the drug was reported to be clinically effective.

Link to PDF full text

 

[hesperides]

"Elderberry can increase the effects of diuretics or diabetes medications. It can also support or boost the immune system. While that’s usually a good thing, if you have an overactive immune system, an autoimmune disorder or you’re taking medications to suppress your immune system, elderberry could pose a problem."

Half of the Spanish searches I did until now warns against overactive immune system and autoimmune disorders before supplementing with elderberries. And the other half says there´re absolutely innocuous provided you don´t take them raw and completely avoid trunks and leaves as they generate cyanide in contact with an enzyme called emulsine.

So far, I´m more inclined to give credit to those who made serious studies on elderberries, like Dr. Sircus or Golnoosh, I don´t think they would have overlooked such serious contraindications as are autoimmune deficiencies.