I was recently reading about natural anti-viral compounds and found some excellent information on monolaurin.
Here are some key points from a short 1982 in-vitro study on monolaurin, a natural compound found in coconut oil. Monolaurin was shown to have impressive virucidal activity in 14 human viruses:
Monolaurin is a monoglyceride of lauric acid and is a naturally occurring fatty acid ester with general antibacterial and antifungal properties.
It has also been shown to be effective against lipid-containing bacterial viruses and the mammalian herpes simplex virus.
Because of these data and the probability that monolaurin compounds would have few side effects in man, we felt it was important to measure the virucidal effects of these compounds on representatives of the major groups of human enveloped (lipid-containing) viruses which may present preservation problems in foods in the future.
Monolaurin was obtained under the trade name Lauricidin.
The viruses used were prototype or recognized representative strains
of enveloped human viruses obtained from our reference virus collection
at CDC.Each of the monolaurin mixtures effected a>99.9% killing of the 14
viruses tested in the study. (Viruses studied here included RSV, Mumps, Measles, Influenza, Coronavirus, Herpes 1 and 2 and CMV.)Electron micrographs of selected viruses in our study also show that
loss of virus infectivity is associated with generalized disintegration of
the envelope.
Our data suggest that solubilization of the lipids and phospholipids in the envelope by the monolaurin and additives is a key factor in the virucidal activity of these test substances.
This article is available in free full-text form here.
Lauricidin can be purchased on Amazon.