MANILA, Philippines — The successful clinical study of the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) that showed virgin coconut oil (VCO) as an effective functional food that helps in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, done last year in Santa Rosa, Laguna, is set to go international.
Another coconut-producing country, Sri Lanka, has expressed interest in conducting a similar clinical trial on VCO as an adjunct therapy for COVID-19 afflicted patients in the South Asian island nation.
Science Secretary Fortunato dela Peña said that stalwarts of the coconut industry in Sri Lanka are already coordinating with the DOST-FNRI for their conduct of a VCO clinical study on COVID-19 patients to test its therapeutic benefits versus the coronavirus.
The Sri Lankans, Dela Peña said, will soon meet with FNRI director Imelda Agdeppa and Ateneo de Manila University professor Fabian Dayrit, who both led the VCO clinical trials in Santa Rosa for a briefing on the Philippine VCO study.
Agdeppa said that the cooperation effort is still being planned out.
“They are setting a meeting with us to discuss our findings and maybe possibly conduct the study in their country,” Agdeppa told The STAR.
The results of the DOST-FNRI VCO clinical trials have been published in an international scientific journal, the Journal of Functional Foods, last May.
The clinical trials covered 57 adults at the Santa Rosa Community Hospital, and the Santa Rosa, Laguna COVID-19 Quarantine Facility in Canossa Institute, who were admitted or isolated for being suspect or probable COVID-19 cases.
The main finding of the study declared that VCO had shortened the recovery period for VCO patients by at least five days.
Of the 57 suspected and probable patient-participants, a total of 37 tested positive for COVID-19. Of the 37 confirmed COVID-19 positive participants, 19 were in the group given meals mixed with VCO, and 18 in the control group who were given meals with no VCO.
The publication in the international journal will allow the study to be reviewed by the world’s top scientists.
DOST-FNRI plans on expanding clinical trials on VCO in the cities of Valenzuela and Muntinlupa, targeted to be finished within the year.
The expansion trial, which targets 120 participants with mild to moderate COVID-19, continues to face difficulty in enlisting participants without comorbidities.
Another program looking at the capacity of VCO to fight COVID-19, also funded by the DOST, is the in-vitro study conducted by the Ateneo de Manila University in partnership with Duke University-National University of Singapore, which also provided supporting evidence on VCO as a cure for COVID-19.
The ADMU-Duke University-NUS study, led by Dayrit, found that at the least, VCO was helpful in fighting SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19 at low viral load.
There is also an ongoing clinical trial on VCO as a cure for moderate to severe COVID-19 cases being conducted by the University of the Philippines-Manila, that is also funded by the DOST-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development.