Al-Quran Responds to the Challenges of the Age Propolis's Role as a Health Supplement in the Era of Covid-19
The Al-Quran Responds to the Challenges of the Age: The Role of Propolis as a Health Supplement in the Era of Covid-19
Author dr. Ety Sari Handayani, M.Kes – 097110415
The Covid-19 outbreak, which began in the epicenter of Wuhan, China, started a pandemic in 2020. The disease is caused by the SARS COV-2 virus, family coronavirus, has claimed victims in almost all countries in the world.
By the will of Allah SWT, until now there is no medicine that has been proven empirically through clinical trials that can be used as a therapy for this disease. There is also no vaccine that can prevent the transmission of Covid-19. Various scientific researches have been carried out to find the right therapy, starting from the use of antimalarial drugs, the second class of HIV antiviral drugs, to the herbal compound curcumin. All of these drugs are suspected of being candidates for coronavirus therapy.
The World Health Organization, WHO, recommends a clean and healthy lifestyle in an effort to break the chain of transmission of the virus. Various efforts to be healthy include eating halal tayyiban and nutritious food, getting enough rest, basking in the morning sun to get enough UV B rays so that vitamin D levels and the body's immune system will increase. It is also recommended to consume various health supplements that can boost the body's immunity.
As Muslims, who believe in the Al-Quran and Hadith, they should be sure that the Al-Quran is able to answer the challenges of the times, one of which is Covid-19. Various fruit plants contained in the Qur'an have benefits for human health. Apart from fruits, it is also stated that honey and propolis are medicines for the human body. Allah says in QS: An-Nahl: 69, which means "From the belly of the bee comes out a drink (honey) of various colors, in which there is medicine that heals humans," (QS: An-Nahl: 69) . The Prophet Muhammad SAW made these words a guide to daily life where it was narrated from HR Bukhari that the Prophet Muhammad Shallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam was very fond of sweets and honey.
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The pathophysiology of this disease shows that in the early phase of the development of Covid-19 there was an increase in C reactive proteins (CRP) (Wang, 2020) and a cytokine storm (cytokine storm). When a cytokine storm occurs, there is a sharp increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines that cause various damage to the body's organs. One of them is the increase in pro-inflammatory Interleukin 1 (IL 1), interleukin 6 (IL 6). Research shows that suppressing IL 1, IL 6 and TNF α levels can be a target for COVID-19 therapy (Coomes & Haghbayan 2020; Gong et al. 2020; Conti et al., 2020).
Scientific studies of herbal compounds capable of suppressing an increase in IL 6 show that propolis compounds can be candidates for Covid-19 therapy. Propolis comes from a mixture of plant sap, wax, flower pollen, and bee saliva. Propolis contains vitamin C, flavonoids and compounds caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE). Meta-analytic study of various journals with research designs Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) stated that propolis compounds were able to reduce levels of interleukin 6, C Reactive Proteins (CRP), TNFα (Shang et al. 2020).
So far, propolis is still one of the candidates for health supplements in boosting the immune system against Covid 19. Based on this scientific study, it is necessary to carry out more in-depth studies, pre-clinical trials and clinical trials of propolis as a therapy for COVID 19. God is true with all His words
Reference
Coomes, EA & Haghbayan, H., 2020. Interleukin-6 in COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, Toronto.
Gong, J. et al., 2020. Correlation Analysis Between Disease Severity and Inflammation-related Parameters in Patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia, wuhan, China.
Shang, H. et al., 2020. Journal of King Saud University – Science Effect of propolis supplementation on C-reactive protein levels and other inflammatory factors : A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of King Saud University – Science, 32(2), pp. 1694–1701. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksus.2020.01.003.
Wang, L., 2020. C-reactive protein levels in the early stages of COVID-19. Medecine et Maladies Infectiouses, pp. 7–9. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.medmal.2020.03.007.
Conti, P., Ronconi, G., Caraffa, A., et al., 2020. Induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1 and IL-6) and lung inflammation by COVID-19: anti-inflammatory strategies. Journal of Biological Regulators and homeostatic agents. 34;2