Old Testament leads to Cinnamon Anti-Viral Antidote

Israel21 reports today that Tel Aviv University professor Michael Ovadia was in his synagogue, listening to a reading from the Old Testament, when he heard clues to a potential anti-viral cure he had been chasing for years.

Up until now, Ovadia, a scientist from TAU's Department of Zoology, had been working with poisonous snake venom and its unique anti-viral and analgesic properties to find a cure for deadly viruses.

But upon hearing about the High Priests - the Kohens - who would prepare a holy cinnamon-laced oil to use to prevent infectious disease before they made a ritual animal sacrifice, Ovadia’s lightbulb went off.

Immediately Ovadia set to work to test his theory, which culminated in last week’s signing of his research and license deal on his patent-pending cinnamon extract with multinational nutraceutical companies, Ramot and Frutarom.

Ovadia’s extract is said to stop viral infections from HIV to Avian flu.

But Ovadia warns that this is no ordinary cinnamon. The extract is obtained from by-products of cinnamon “juice” known as coumarin and cinnamon aldehyde, which, if consumed in large quantities, can damage the liver or kill you.