The country’s clinical trials on the use of virgin coconut oil (VCO), lagundi (Chinese chaste tree) and tawa-tawa (Euphorbia hirta) as adjunct therapy, herbal medicine, and adjunctive treatment against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) may benefit the country’s farmers, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said on Saturday, Oct. 23.
DOST Undersecretary for Research and Development (R&D) Rowena Cristina Guevara said the positive results of the clinical trials would mean income for the Filipino farmers.
“Dahil herbal medicine ito nagde-depend pa rin ito sa mga itinanim ng farmers. Kung makakapag-export tayo nitong mga produktong ito ay tataas ang kita ng ating mga farmers na nagtatanim ng tawa-tawa, lagundi at saka syempre coconut. (Because this is herbal medicine, it still depends on what the farmers plant. If we can export these products, this will increase the income of our farmers who grow tawa-tawa, lagundi and of course, the coconut),” she said during the Laging Handa briefing on Saturday.
“Ang ineemphasize lang namin kailangang tamang variety nitong lagundi at tawa-tawa ang gagamitin natin (We just emphasize that we need to grow the right variety of lagundi and tawa tawa).”
Guevara said other countries were taking interest in the country’s clinical studies on the use of VCO, tawa-tawa, and lagundi against COVID.
“Andami naming natatanggap na inquiry kasi gusto nilang magkumpara kung ano ang equivalent dun sa kanilang bansa dito sa ating mga halaman so we have to exchange scientific names, at sila din naman nagbibigay sila sa atin ng mga scientific names ..at inaaral din ng ating researchers (We have received a lot of inquiries because they want to compare what is equivalent in their country here with our plants so we have to exchange scientific names, and they also give us scientific names ..and our researchers study them).”
Guevara had bared that using VCO, lagundi and tawa-tawa for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients yielded positive results.
https://mb.com.ph/2021/10/17/is-vco-an-effective-adjunct-therapy-for-hospitalized-covid-19-patients/