Common chocolate ingredient could be potent flu treatment, scientists find
A new combination of drugs, including a compound present in chocolate, can treat several influenza strains, including bird and swine flu, a new study has found. The drug combination of chocolate ingredient theobromine, and the lesser-known compound arainosine, can be a potential gamechanger in treating flu, even outperforming the most widely used anti-influenza medication Tamiflu, according to the study published in the journal PNAS. The combination therapy works by targeting a key weakness in the influenza virus, a microscopic channel the virus uses to replicate and spread. Combination drug treatment outperformed most commonly used flu medicine Tamiflu, researchers say.