Reports say scientists in laboratory tests have found that a banana ingredient called BanLec was as potent as two existing anti-HIV drugs.

The scientists believe cheap therapies based on BanLec have the potential to save millions of lives. The ingredient is a lectin, a naturally occurring chemical in plants which fights infection.

Researchers in the US found that the lectin found in bananas can inhibit HIV infection by blocking the virus's entry into the body.

BanLec acts on the protein "envelope" that encloses HIV's genetic material.

Lead author Michael Swanson, from the University of Michigan said, "The problem with some HIV drugs is that the virus can mutate and become resistant, but that's much harder to do in the presence of lectins. Lectins can bind to the sugars found on different spots of the HIV-1 envelope, and presumably it will take multiple mutations for the virus to get around them."

The research is reported in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Banana is widely grown in African and is staple food for many Eastern African countries including Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, where it is commonly referred to as “matooke”.

If this latest scientific research pulls through, then banana will become Africa and indeed the world’s next big thing as far as AIDS prevention is concerned.

Recently, clinical trials using a microbicide gel, PRO 2000 in some parts of Africa, Zambia included produced disappointing results after some of the volunteers on the clinical trials contracted HIV.

To date, there is no cure for AIDS but combined preventive measures such as constant condom use, male circumcision, voluntary counselling and testing and abstinence are being promoted as mitigation measures aimed at preventing the spread of AIDS.