Table 1.

Outcome of studies focusing on using nutraceuticals/dietary agents in treating HIV and COVID-19.

Drug	HIV Outcomes	COVID-19 Outcomes	References
Ginkgo biloba (GB) and related compounds	↑ HIV protease activity	---	[86]
	Show neuroprotective effects	---	[88]
	---	↓ enveloped viral fusion Show antiviral activity against influenza virus	[85,87]
	---	Inhibit vital proteinase SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro	[91]
Vitamin D supplementation	↑ 25(OH)D concentration, correct vitamin D deficiency, improve immune response, and reduce mortality in HIV-positive patients	---	[126,127,128]
	Improve maternal health, birth outcomes, and infant growth among HIV-infected pregnant women	---	[129]
	---	Enhance the immune system, reduce risk, severity, and improve prognosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection	[71,72,73]
	---	Prevent “cytokine storm”	[130,131,132,133,134]
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)	↓ neuronal damage, but ↑ increase risks of drug interactions when used with multiple ARVs	---	[81,84]
	---	Enhance immune system and reduce severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection	[72]
	---	Intravenous (I.V.) vitamin C can be an effective treatment	[77]
	---	Can be used concurrently with Quercetin as a prophylactic agent and treatment option	[78]
	---	HDIVC provides no significant outcome in nCoV-2-induced ARDS	[79]
Green tea (and other EGCG-containing compounds)	Antiviral effect against influenza, HIV, and hep C	---	[93]
	↓ neuronal damage and apoptosis	---	[96,98]
	↓ neurotoxic effect of HIV proteins and can cross BBB	---	[99]
	EGCG-containing nano-lipidic complexes enhance EGCG bioavailability by 2x	---	[101]
	↓ Aβ accumulation	---	[135]
Resveratrol	↓ the HIV viral replication caused by Benzo(a)pyrene	---	[36]
	↓ neurotoxic effects of HIV proteins	---	[99]
	Inactivate ERK1/2 pathways, which reduces TNF-α and MCP-1 production in the hippocampus	---	[103]
	Activate SIRT-1 in vivo by increasing NAD+ expression	---	[106]
	---	Show strong binding affinity to ACE2 in the lungs	[108]
Resveratrol analog- 4-(E)-{(p-tolylimino)-methylbenzene-1,2-diol} (TIMBD)	↓ HIV-gp120-induced neuroinflammation in SVG astrocytes	--	[111]
Curcumin	↓ ROS and proinflammatory cytokines	---	[97]
	↓ neuronal apoptosis, especially through the HSP70 pathway	---	[97,112]
	↓ neuropathic pain	---	[113]
	↓ Ca2+ concentration in synaptosomes	---	[121,122]
	↓ viral replication exacerbated by extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from cervical cancer cell lines (CASKI)	---	[136]
	---	Anti-inflammatory and pulmonary-protective effects on the infected lung tissues	[115]
	---	↓ interactions of SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins to ACE2 receptors in lungs	[124]
	---	↓ severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection	[116,125]

HDIVC: High-dose intravenous vitamin C; EGCG: (-) epigallocatechin—3-gallate; GFAP: glial fibrillary acidic protein; NAD+: nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide; HSP70: heat shock protein 70; DRG: dorsal root ganglia; SIRT-1: sirtuins 1; GBLE: gingko biloba leaves extract; SVCT2: Na/vitamin C co-transporter isoform 2. ↑ increased; ↓ decreased.