US researchers have discovered that bananas have the power to stop the transmission of HIV.
Research from the University of Michigan Medical School, to be published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, has concluded that banana lectins have the ability to inhibit the transmission of HIV.
The study found that BanLec, a jacalin-related lectin isolated from the fruit of bananas, could be utilised to inhibit sexual transmission of HIV-1.
The study said: "The relative anti-HIV activity of BanLec compared favorably to other anti-HIV lectins, such as snowdrop lectin and Griffithsin, and to T-20 and maraviroc, two anti-HIV drugs currently in clinical use.
"Based on these results, BanLec is a potential component for an anti-viral microbicide that could be used to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV-1."
According to the University of Michigan Health System, the "authors say even modest success could save millions of lives. Other investigators have estimated that 20 per cent coverage with a microbicide that is only 60 per cent effective against HIV may prevent up to 2.5m HIV infections in three years."
