In Praise of Herbal Antivirals

‘Tis the season when our beloved customers descend upon us in droves, asking after herbs and supplements to “boost the immune system.” 

Good news: there are supplements for that, and they do work.  

Zinc helps the immune system ramp up faster. NAC can reduce T-cell fatigue. Astragalus root and goji berry make those same T cells more vigilant, especially with viruses. American ginseng can reduce the effects of stress on immunity. Etc., etc. etc.   

HOWEVER – the more we focus on “boosting the immune system” or “supporting the wisdom of the body” the more we risk sacrificing efficacy to dogma. Yes, it’s great to support the body, and herbs can sometimes do that in ways that drugs can not. But you know what else herbs can do? They can KILL GERMS. They can be directly antiviral. They can be – in a word – allopathic. And we should not overlook the wonderful, effective herbs that do just that, just because of some idealized notion of how herbalism ought to differ from the pharmaceutical model.

More to the point, most of the support-your-immune-system herbs take a few days or weeks to really establish themselves. Great, long-term. Great, for recovery. Great, if you’re highly susceptible. But of dubious benefit when the next 24 hours is key.

Personally, I believe in using everything that works. And if I’m coming down with something, I want to hit it from as many angles as I can. But the #1 angle, for me, is stopping the virus directly.  Whether it’s a cold, flu, norovirus, molluscum, even COVID – we’ve got a toolbox full of winners. 

Let me name a few: 

Lomatium Root is native to the American Southwest, and one of those fantastic herbs that has almost no meaningful research behind it. Plus, it doesn’t come out of any of the big famous herbal traditions. So it always flies under the mainstream radar. But – it just works.   

I’ve used lomatium, personally and through recommendations, thousands of times. It’s (almost) always effective. Respiratory viral infections? Check. Systemic viral infections. Yes. Hepatic viral infections. I’ve seen the results. Topically, with viruses of the skin? Indeed. I don’t want to overstate my case here, and we should bear in mind that nothing is foolproof. But I’ve rarely found a viral situation in which lomatium can not make a significant dent.   

The drawbacks? It tastes awful. Also, there’s a small chance (~1%) that it gives you skin rash. The rash is often mild, but rarely not. It is not harmful. But it sure can itch.   

Lomatium is my personal #1, always. A “standard” dose is 30 drops of the tincture, 3 times a day. I lean towards much higher doses – 2 full droppers, 2-3 times a day. I once downed an entire 1-oz bottle during a 90-minute airport layover in Arizona, when I started coming down hard with what was almost definitely norovirus – chills, nausea, the whole nine yards. By the time I landed in Boston, I was 90% better. That’s lomatium for you.   

Isatis Leaf is native to China, where it is often called ban lan gen. It may be the single most widely used cold’n’flu herb in all of China. To call Isatis an “antiviral” is an oversimplification, since it works in a number of different ways, including through the immune system. It increases production of various cell-signaling molecules, to recruit a more robust immune response. Conversely, it is also anti-inflammatory, to reduce an excessive immune response.   

But Isatis is also a direct antiviral. In particular, it can inhibit viral adhesion, penetration, and replication: the trifecta. Isatis displays activity against influenza especially, but also coronavirus and foot-and-mouth disease. None of this research is especially strong, but when you add that to the two thousand years of tradition, it’s pretty compelling.   I’ve used it. It works. 

Elderberry is yet another directly antiviral herb. It may not be as broadly effective as the others, but it’s been consistently researched vs. the flu specifically. The real benefit here is, you can make nice sweet syrups from it, easy to give children. Still, though, if you can get the Isatis or Lomatium down, they’ll probably outperform Elderberry – vs. the flu and everything else.