Aronia Berry Juice and COVID

I’m an educator who works at a research university, but I’m not a scientist. I’m not a teacher either. I create opportunities for people to learn. As the owner of a company that makes and sells products that use specific ingredients, I’m reluctant to take on the role of educating people about the benefits of the ingredients we use. If I was a potential customer, I’d be skeptical of anything I say about how amazing the fruit, herbs, and spices we use are. Yet, I do see Shrubbly and our small, organic, Vermont fruit farm as important resources that we’ve created to introduce people to specialty fruit and products. However, when people want to dive deeper and learn more I mostly just encourage people to “Google Aronia”, so they can identify other objective sources of information to validate the benefits of Aronia and the other ingredients we use to make our Shrub drinks. This time though, I feel compelled to directly share more.

I just came across this article. The original publication referenced in the article summarized an analysis of “the potential of plant derived products to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus.” That research “found that black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) juice, pomegranate (Punica granatum) juice, and green tea (Camellia sinensis) have virucidal activity against both viruses, suggesting that oral rinsing may reduce viral loads in the oral cavity thereby lowering virus transmission.”

Although we make an Aronia Berry and Pomegranate flavor of Shrubbly, I’m not suggesting that it will be effective in preventing COVID-19. It's likely that the juice is too diluted with sparkling water in our cans. However, I did want to share this information because there are probably appropriate, beneficial ways to use these juices to help prevent COVID. I know dentists would not recommend the daily gargling of highly acidic juices though. I do wonder, what if someone in your household is diagnosed but others in the same household haven’t been… would it make sense to consume these juices during the two week period of infection? I don’t know, but since I have access to organic Aronia berry juice made from the fruit we grow, my family and I will try it if we ever need to.

A question you may have is, can you buy Aronia juice from Shrubbly? Well, that hasn’t been our plan and as a startup we need to stay focused on our core products. But, I do want to help get it to people who would like to have it on hand in case they have close contact with a person diagnosed with COVID-19. I recommend you shop online to find some that you can buy from a company that focuses on sales of Aronia berry juice or concentrate. If everyone sells out and you can’t find any, then contact us and we’ll try to figure out a way to get you some of ours. In the meantime, I think you’d enjoy sipping on some Shrubbly so please try some, and continue to take good care of yourself and others.