No evidence that lemon balm is a cure for bird flu, contrary to claim by Bryan Ardis

Key takeaway

Avian flu is a disease caused by influenza viruses that primarily infect birds. The H5N1 virus subtype is responsible for hundreds of millions of bird deaths since 2021. H5N1 is also able to infect humans via bird-to-human transmission, albeit on rare occasions. No human-to-human transmission has been observed thus far. However, H5N1 infection in humans can prove deadly, with an observed mortality rate of up to 50%. For this reason, H5N1 cases are closely monitored by public health agencies.

Reviewed content

Verdict:

Unsupported

Claim:

“It’s already been proven that lemon balm [...] neutralizes and destroys all avian flu”, including H5N1

Verdict detail

Inadequate support: A review of published scientific studies found no evidence to support the claim that lemon balm has any effect against avian flu viruses, including H5N1.

See our method of evaluation

Full Claim

“It’s already been proven that lemon balm [...] neutralizes and destroys all avian flu”, including H5N1

In a video from “The Dr Ardis Show”, chiropractor Bryan Ardis claimed that lemon balm is a proven remedy to “neutralize and destroy all avian flu”, including the H5N1 variant. Excerpts from the video were also published on Facebook and TikTok, where they have since been viewed over 200,000 times.

Ardis has a track record of promoting inaccurate and unfounded health claims, as previously reported by Science Feedback. Once again, available scientific results don’t support his claim on lemon balm. We explain why below.

Ardis’ claim comes amid growing concerns about the pandemic potential of some avian flu subtypes, especially the H5N1 variant.

Avian flu, or bird flu, refers to the disease caused by influenza A virus subtypes that typically only infect birds, although some of these virus subtypes occasionally infect mammals—including humans. Some avian virus subtypes are considered low pathogenic because they don’t cause severe symptoms among birds, while others are highly pathogenic and can rapidly kill the animals.

Influenza A viruses are classified into subtypes based on two key surface proteins: hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). The combination of these proteins determines the subtype, such as H1N1 and H3N2, which are the strains currently circulating among humans.

The main avian flu subtype of concern nowadays is H5N1. It was identified in 1996 and has spread around the world since 2021, killing more than 200 million birds. It rarely affects people, but when it does, the mortality rate can exceed 50%. To put this figure into context, a meta-analysis estimated that the mortality rate of COVID-19 ranged from 0.19 to 5%^[1], and the mortality rate of the seasonal flu in the U.S., based on data for the 2018/19 flu season, is between 0.1 and 0.2%.

So far, there is no evidence that H5N1 can be transmitted from human to human, therefore the immediate threat to people is low. However, a recent outbreak of H5N1 among cattle in American dairy farms raised concerns that a new mutation in the virus could allow it to more easily infect different hosts, including humans. This, along with the high mortality rate in humans infected with the virus, explains why this subtype is under close scrutiny by health authorities.

Lemon balm, also known as Melissa officinalis, is a plant from the mint family. According to Mount Sinai, it’s been used for centuries in traditional medicine as a calming herb. Some clinical research exists showing that lemon balm infusions and lemon balm extracts can reduce stress and promote sleep. Some research also suggests that lemon balm cream can reduce lip sores caused by herpes infection.

On his website, Ardis cited a scientific study as supporting evidence of anti-flu properties of lemon balm. However, this study only reported that lemon balm essential oil reduced the replication of the virus H9N2 in cells grown in Petri dishes. It didn’t investigate the effect of lemon balm on H5N1 and on human immunity against flu.

Furthermore, there aren’t any other scientific studies demonstrating that lemon balm combats avian flu. A search on Pubmed^&, a repository of biomedical peer-reviewed publications hosted by the U.S. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) returned only two articles related to lemon balm’s effect on flu viruses.

The first one is the one that Ardis cited. The second study showed that administering lemon balm extract to H1N1-infected mice reduced the amount of virus in their lungs and prevented pneumonia. In fact, a lemon balm-containing supplement sold by Ardis on his website cited the first study as evidence to support its claim that lemon balm protects from the flu virus.

None of these studies presented clinical research on human participants. In vitro and animal experiments are an essential part of research. However, they cannot replace human clinical trials, which are the only way to prove the safety and efficacy of a preventative or treatment in people.

This absence of data tells us that Ardis’ claim is unsupported. Lemon balm hasn’t been proven to cure or prevent avian flu in people.

NOTE:

& Pubmed query: (“lemon balm”[Title] OR “Melissa officinalis”[Title] OR M. officinalis[Title]) AND (“bird flu”[Title] OR “avian flu”[Title] OR H5N1[Title] OR influenza[Title])

REFERENCES:

• 1 – Xia et al. (2024) Case fatality rates of COVID‐19 during epidemic periods of variants of concern: A meta-analysis by continents. International Journal of Infectious Diseases.