Unravelling the Immune Modulatory Effect of Indian Spices to Impede the Transmission of COVID-19: A Promising Approach

Months after WHO declared COVID-19 as a Global Public Health Emergency of International Concern, it does not seem to be flattening the curve as we are still devoid of an effective treatment modality and vaccination is in the first phase in many countries. Amid such uncertainty, being immune is the best strategy to defend against corona attacks. As the whole world is referring back to immune-boosting traditional remedies, interest is rekindled in the Indian system of Medicine, which is gifted with an abundance of herbal medicines as well as remedies. Among them, spices (root, rhizome, seed, fruit, leaf, bud, and flower of various plants used to add taste and flavors to food) are bestowed with immense medicinal potential. A plethora of clinical as well as preclinical studies reported the effectiveness of various spices for various ailments. The potential immune-boosting properties together with their excellent safety profiles are making spices the current choice of phytoresearch as well as the immune-boosting home remedies during these sceptical times. The present review critically evaluates the immune impact of various Indian spices and their potential to tackle the novel coronavirus, with comments on the safety and toxicity aspects of spices.