Antibacterial and antiviral effects of plant polysaccharides

A large number of studies have shown that many polysaccharides have inhibitory effects on bacteria and viruses, such as HIV, herpes simplex virus, influenza virus, and cystic gastritis virus. Experiments have shown that Ginkgo biloba extracellular polysaccharides and Ginkgo biloba polysaccharides can significantly inhibit inflammatory agents causing ear swelling and capillary permeability increase in mice, indicating that they have anti-inflammatory effects; purple-based polysaccharides can not only inhibit leather such as Staphylococcus aureus Lan-positive bacteria also have an inhibitory effect on gram-negative bacteria such as Sarcina luteus. The antiviral mechanism of most polysaccharides is to inhibit the adsorption of viruses to cells, which may be related to the mechanical or chemical competition of polysaccharide macromolecules for the binding sites of viruses and cells. Therefore, using the antibacterial effect of plant polysaccharides and using plant polysaccharides as an ingredient in food can not only be antiseptic, but also add value to the product. In China, research on the use of plant polysaccharides for anti-AIDS has pointed out a direction for the development of alternative traditional antiviral drugs that are expensive and have large side effects.