Can soy sauce cure HIV effectively?

Microbiological experts have stated that a taste-enhancing compound in soy sauce could overcome resistance to AIDS in patients infected with HIV.

The statement is considered a testimony to a discovery dating back more than 10 years to the Yamasa Group, one of Japan's oldest soy sauce makers.

Founded in 1645, by the end of the 1800s, Yamasa Group began exporting soy sauce to the United States. Since then, Yamasa soy sauce product with the characteristic plastic bottle with red and green lid, has become indispensable in Chinese restaurants in America.

However, the Yamasa Group also has a lesser known innovation: Since 1988, the business has begun to set up a division of food scientists to conduct medical research. about immune responses to certain chemicals in food.

Flavoring agent EfdA found only in soy sauce has been found to have properties such as medicine.(Photo: News)

In 2001, their efforts paid off. These experts unknowingly discovered that a flavoring agent in soy sauce may possess similar characteristics to existing anti-HIV drugs on the market.

More than a decade later, this week, microbiologists from the University of Missouri (USA) voiced affirmation, Yamasa's discovery is correct.EfdA , a flavor enhancer , is found only in soy sauce, 70 times more effective than Tenofovir , one of the most commonly used pharmaceuticals currently available to treat HIV-infected patients.

One of the main problems with the fight against the disease today is that the patient's body often develops serious resistance to the effects of the drug, including Tenofovir. Although the current infection with HIV is no longer considered a 'death sentence', the treatment of the disease will be costly and requires the use of one drug after another until the patient's body has Adjustable to adapt.

According to Dr. Stefan Sarafianos, head of research at the University of Missouri, EfdA is less likely to cause drug resistance in HIV-infected patients because it is more active and slow to be disabled by the body than the others. The type of brand name drug is available in the market.

Mr. Sarafianos and his team are collaborating with pharmaceutical company Merck to research and develop a new, more effective anti-HIV drug based on EfdA.

The discovery may change the thinking of most of us for a long time that chemicals in food are only harmful to the human body. EfdA is an example of the fact that adding chemicals to food can sometimes be beneficial, even if only a small group of people are exposed to the virus that causes the disease of the century.