In the race to beat COVID-19, the winner could be Cabbage!

A study, by researchers from Montpellier University in France, found that cabbage could help people to build up a resistance to the virus. 

Guess what? In the race to beat COVID-19, cabbage could very well be the answer we all are looking for! The good news - among the various Cole crops, cabbage is most widely grown on commercial scale in India. Cabbage crop can yield up to 14,000 to 15,000 kg cabbage heads per acre.  

Researchers found that cabbage — whether raw, pickled or mixed with other vegetables — could help people build up resistance to the virus. European researchers claim that the abundant antioxidants in the vegetable could explain why countries where cabbage is a key part of the national diet had lower fatality rates than hard-hit countries. 

This could be to do with a protein in humans called Nrf2. Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes the Covid-19 disease, can cause serious inflammation in severely ill patients, including generating damaging oxygen particles. Nrf2 can bind with these particles to reduce their harm – and that is where cabbage comes in. Previous studies have suggested vegetables like cabbage have natural compounds – curcumin, sulforaphane and vitamin D – that can boost the production of Nrf2. 

The study, which was published in the journal Clinical and Translational Allergy, has not been peer-reviewed yet. Nevertheless, the crucial findings raise hopes about a possible link between coronavirus risk and diet. Further research is needed but who knows the secret key could very well be hidden in our diet!