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Grapefruit compound, which gives grapefruit bitterish taste, slows down extension of hepatitis C infection in an organism, have established American scientists. In their opinion, the combination of this substance with traditional viricides can relieve disease and prevent chronic form of the disease, informs magazine Hepatology.

According to the head of the research Raymond Chung and his colleagues from Massachusetts hospitals, the main role belongs to nagenginin. Their experiments have shown that action of this derivative substance reduces production of the virus from infected cells by 80 %. It is also important, that medical concentration of this substance is not toxic for an organism, has noted Chung.

According to the statistics, more than 3 % of the planet’s population is infected with hepatitis C, and in overwhelming majority of cases illness passes to the chronic form. The chronic hepatitis C infection can lead to cirrhosis and liver carcinoma.