evidence: Traditional herbal medicines are poorly or not regulated as licensed/registered medicines in quite a few countries, including the USA, and therefore are considered "food," precluding any high-level discussion on their potential contributions to human health. Consequently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers fraudulent to sell any herbal products with attached claims and has sent warning letters to companies offering herbal products such as teas, essential oils, and tinctures claiming to prevent, treat or cure the symptoms of COVID-19. It is also encouraging the public to report the unlawful sales of medicinal products on the Internet (FDA, 2020). The North American public is receiving advice on the use of herbal products from dedicated academic groups. One of them is the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine which recommends polyphenol-rich plants (chamomille, Chinese skullcap, licorice, onions, apples, tomatoes, oranges, nuts, berries, parsley, celery, turmeric root, and green tea) to reduce the risk of infection (Alschuler et al., 2020), but no detailed assessment is available.