Scientists in Pennsylvania have invented a chewing gum that can eliminate 95% of the flu virus

According to the National Health Institute, influenza hospitalizes 200,000 people each year, along with killing more than 36,000 people in the United States annually. This is why the Center for Disease Control recommends taking a flu vaccine each year to help prevent infection or curb the dangers of infection of the flu virus. However, scientists have found a way that’s 95% effective at preventing the spread of the flu: chewing gum.

Not just any chewing gum, mind you. The researchers and dentists over at the University of Pennsylvania with some collaborators in Finland have developed a special gum that neutralizes not just flu viral loads in human mouths, but can also prevent the spread of oral herpes simplex. This is considered a huge breakthrough in that seasonal influenza epidemics cause economic losses exceeding $11.2 billion each year in just the United States alone. On top of that, over two-thirds of the global population is infected with HSV-1 (herpes) as it is highly contagious.

Henry Daniell and his team at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Dental Medicine created the chewing gum with an Australian pea plant Lablab purpureus. This plant naturally contains an antiviral trap protein called FRIL that can neutralize certain viral loads that are present in our mouths and saliva when we are infected. Daniell had been working on a gum to prevent viral spread of diseases since the COVID-19 pandemic, with the reasoning that most people catch viral disease through oral contact of some kind rather than from the nasal cavity.

After testing alongside their Finnish colleagues, the researchers found that 40 milligrams of the pea plant bean powder within a two-gram gum tablet could reduce the spread of viral loads of two herpes simplex viruses (HSV-1 and HSV-2) and two influenza A strains (H1N1 and H3N2) by 95%. This means that if you are infected with these virus strains, chewing this gum has a 95% chance of preventing you from infecting someone else that you are talking to, coughing around, or just plain breathing around. Daniell is also working on another gum for humans and a possible feed for birds that contain the bean powder to curb the spread of bird flu.

You cannot be too careful when trying to prevent the spread of the flu.Photo credit: Canva

“Controlling transmission of viruses continues to be major global challenge. A broad spectrum antiviral protein (FRIL) present in a natural food product (bean powder) to neutralize not only human flu viruses but also avian (bird) flu is a timely innovation to prevent their infection and transmission,” Daniell told Penn News.

While this gum isn’t on the market yet, there are ways to help significantly prevent the spread of flu during the peak seasons of infection. Some of these may be common sense, but a review is never a bad thing. If you or someone in your house has the flu, be sure to regularly wash your hands with hot water to kill germs before you handle anything. Cough or sneeze into a tissue or in the crook of your elbow to prevent droplets of saliva and mucus from hitting other people or objects. Do your best to limit contact with other people face-to-face and wear a mask if you do.

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Lastly, until this gum is further proven effective and placed into the market, the best way to prevent the spread is to make it harder for the virus to infect you in the first place. The best way to do that is to get an annual flu vaccination at your local pharmacy or physician’s office. Contacting your doctor or pharmacist can help direct you to the best option near you.