Can Seaweed Extract Help In the Fight Against COVID-19?

By Molly Riley, Biochemistry Major, 2023

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to surge around the world, researchers have been working tirelessly towards finding effective ways to impede disease symptoms and reduce viral spread. While the media has been focused on vaccine development efforts, some research teams have been working on discovering new antiviral alternatives to the current drugs on the market.

A study published by researchers Kwon et al. in Cell Discovery found that certain secondary metabolites extracted from brown seaweed produce antiviral properties that effectively prevent the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro.1 Many plants produce secondary metabolites as a defensive response to abiotic constraints such as stress or predation.2 These compounds produced by brown seaweed species have been found to be antibacterial, antioxidative, and even antiviral in nature.

The study discovered that sulfated polysaccharides bind tightly to the S-protein of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro, which suggests that they can act as decoys to interfere with S-proteins binding to the receptor in host tissues, thereby inhibiting viral infection.3 The study also found that the seaweed extracts required a significantly lower concentration than Remdesivir to reduce the virus’s effectiveness to 50%.4 This suggests that this seaweed extract may be more effective at fighting against SARS-CoV-2 infection than the currently marketed antiviral drug, and since seaweed has low cytotoxicity, it has promising potential for clinical use.5

Naturally derived antivirals from plants may be a key player in the fight against viral pathogens in the future and further research should be conducted to explore the full potential of these findings. The potential naturally derived antivirals from plants has provided hope for the future fight against viral pathogens.

[1] Timothy Huzar, “COVID-19: Seaweed Extract May Be More Effective than Remdesivir,” Medical News Today (MediLexicon International), accessed February 11, 2021.

[2] Guerriero, Gea, Roberto Berni, J Armando Muñoz-

[3] Sanchez, Fabio Apone, Eslam M Abdel-Salam, Ahmad A Qahtan, Abdulrahman A Alatar, et al. “Production of Plant Secondary Metabolites: Examples, Tips and Suggestions for Biotechnologists.” Genes. MDPI, June 20, 2018.