In laboratory tests, scientists found that a banana ingredient called BanLec was as potent as two existing anti-HIV drugs.They believe cheap therapies based on BanLec have the potential to save millions of lives.
The ingredient is a lectin, a naturally occurring chemical in plants which fights infection.
Researchers in the US found that the lectin found in bananas can inhibit HIV infection by blocking the virus's entry into the body. BanLec acts on the protein "envelope" that encloses HIV's genetic material.
Lead author Michael Swanson, from the University of Michigan, said: "The problem with some HIV drugs is that the virus can mutate and become resistant, but that's much harder to do in the presence of lectins.
"Lectins can bind to the sugars found on different spots of the HIV-1 envelope, and presumably it will take multiple mutations for the virus to get around them."
The research is reported in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
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