A compound that naturally occurs in grapefruit and certain other citrus fruits may be helpful in fighting chronic hepatitis C infection by blocking an important pathway in the virus’ life cycle. New studies show that the common flavonoid naringenin inhibits the secretion of hepatitis C virus from infected cells, a process required to maintain chronic infection. Unfortunately, it will be years before human studies of this specific flavonoid are carried out.
For those patients who are unresponsive or refuse to subject themselves to the traditional antiviral therapies there are alternatives available. We have found at our clinic that high doses( 50 grams) of intravenous vitamin C two to three times/week combined with other herbal and nutritional supplements lowers the viral load count and normalizes liver enzymes if elevated.