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Research Article
Harri Hemilä
University of Helsinki
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4710-307X
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Declarations:
Declarations
- This study involved human subjects.
- The author confirmed that all appropriate ethical guidelines for the use of human subjects have been followed, any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee review has been obtained, and information about the IRB/ethics committee is included in the manuscript.
- The author has confirmed that all necessary patient/participant consent or assent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived. If the IRB/ethics committee waived the requirement for patient/participant consent or assent, an explanation for the waiver is included in the text.
- The author has confirmed that a statement listing potential conflicts of interest or lack thereof is included in the text.
Carrageenan is a sulfated polysaccharide that has been extensively used in food products. Since the 1980s, carrageenan has been shown to prevent infections due to several viruses in cell cultures, including rhinoviruses which cause the common cold. In animal studies it prevented mortality caused by influenza A. Carrageenan is generally regarded as safe by the FDA. This individual patient data meta-analysis examined the datasets of two randomized placebo-controlled trials which investigated the effect of carrageenan separately on children and adults. In both trials, iota-carrageenan was administered nasally 3 times per day for 7 days for patients with the common cold and follow-up lasted for 21 days. Nasal carrageenan increased the recovery rate from all colds by 54% (95% CI 15% to 105%; P = 0.003). The increase in recovery rate was 140% in coronavirus infections, 119% in influenza A infections, and 70% in rhinovirus infections. We used quantile regression to calculate the effect of carrageenan on colds of differing lengths, by dividing the distribution into 5 quintiles. The mean duration of colds in the placebo groups of the first four quintiles were 4.0, 6.8, 8.8 and 13.7 days, respectively. The fifth quintile contained patients with censored data. The 13.7-day colds were shortened by 3.8 days (28% reduction), and 8.8-day colds by 1.3 days (15% reduction). Carrageenan had no meaningful effect on shorter colds. In the placebo group, 21 patients had colds that lasted over 20 days, compared with 6 patients in the carrageenan group. This corresponds to a 71% (P = 0.003) reduction in the risk of longer colds. Finally, in the placebo group, 37 patients had recurring cold symptoms after first being cured, compared with 16 in the carrageenan group. This corresponds to a 56% (P = 0.002) reduction in the risk of recurring symptoms. Given that carrageenan has an effect on diverse virus groups, and its demonstrated effects on two old coronaviruses, it seems plausible that nasal carrageenan may also have an effect on the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Further research on nasal iota-carrageenan is warranted.
Keywords
Common cold, Coronavirus, Influenza, iota-Carrageenan, Meta-analysis, Randomized controlled trials, Rhinovirus, SARS-CoV-2
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This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
- CarrageenanSupplement1110.pdf
Carrageenan nasal spray may double the rate of recovery from coronavirus and influenza virus infections: re-analysis of randomized trial data: Supplement
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This is a preprint. It has not completed peer review.
Research Article
Harri Hemilä
University of Helsinki
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4710-307X
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
History
CURRENT STATUS: Posted
Version 1
Posted 16 Nov, 2020
Community comments: 4
Metrics
Comments: 0
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Declarations:
Declarations
- This study involved human subjects.
- The author confirmed that all appropriate ethical guidelines for the use of human subjects have been followed, any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee review has been obtained, and information about the IRB/ethics committee is included in the manuscript.
- The author has confirmed that all necessary patient/participant consent or assent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived. If the IRB/ethics committee waived the requirement for patient/participant consent or assent, an explanation for the waiver is included in the text.
- The author has confirmed that a statement listing potential conflicts of interest or lack thereof is included in the text.
Carrageenan is a sulfated polysaccharide that has been extensively used in food products. Since the 1980s, carrageenan has been shown to prevent infections due to several viruses in cell cultures, including rhinoviruses which cause the common cold. In animal studies it prevented mortality caused by influenza A. Carrageenan is generally regarded as safe by the FDA. This individual patient data meta-analysis examined the datasets of two randomized placebo-controlled trials which investigated the effect of carrageenan separately on children and adults. In both trials, iota-carrageenan was administered nasally 3 times per day for 7 days for patients with the common cold and follow-up lasted for 21 days. Nasal carrageenan increased the recovery rate from all colds by 54% (95% CI 15% to 105%; P = 0.003). The increase in recovery rate was 140% in coronavirus infections, 119% in influenza A infections, and 70% in rhinovirus infections. We used quantile regression to calculate the effect of carrageenan on colds of differing lengths, by dividing the distribution into 5 quintiles. The mean duration of colds in the placebo groups of the first four quintiles were 4.0, 6.8, 8.8 and 13.7 days, respectively. The fifth quintile contained patients with censored data. The 13.7-day colds were shortened by 3.8 days (28% reduction), and 8.8-day colds by 1.3 days (15% reduction). Carrageenan had no meaningful effect on shorter colds. In the placebo group, 21 patients had colds that lasted over 20 days, compared with 6 patients in the carrageenan group. This corresponds to a 71% (P = 0.003) reduction in the risk of longer colds. Finally, in the placebo group, 37 patients had recurring cold symptoms after first being cured, compared with 16 in the carrageenan group. This corresponds to a 56% (P = 0.002) reduction in the risk of recurring symptoms. Given that carrageenan has an effect on diverse virus groups, and its demonstrated effects on two old coronaviruses, it seems plausible that nasal carrageenan may also have an effect on the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Further research on nasal iota-carrageenan is warranted.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
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