Women can be saved from getting infected from HIV if they consume bananas, due to a chemical found in them, revealed the researches at the University of Michigan.

The chemical is a lectin known as Ban Lec. According to a laboratory test, it was discovered to be as strong as two top HIV drugs. It is found in plants as a sugar binding protein and has the capability to identify and successful catch on to foreign invaders in the body.

The study was published in the March 15, 2010 Journal of Biological Chemistry. Its co-authors Erwin J. Goldstein, Ph. D. and Harry C. Winter, Ph. D. developed the biopurification method to separate the leptin, called BanLec, from bananas.

Ban Lec is able to stop HIV from entering the body, by connecting to the HIV-1 envelope protein that is high in sugar content, gp120.

The study conducted at the University Of Michigan Medical School reveals that it is more affective as well as easily affordable form of microbicides.

Michael D. Swanson, a study author 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".