Choice of Food: A Preventive Measure during Covid-19 Outbreak
Abstract
As the Covid-19 pandemic has affected communities around the globe, people are facing the fear of being infected by it. It is believed that Coronavirus disease 2019 is directly associated to an individual’s immune response, with no documented research evidence found yet. But, Covid-19 is genetically similar to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV), therefore the same immune response is expected for Covid-191. It has also been found that individuals having weaker immune functions are more suspected to infect and have a high fatality rate2. Preventive measures such as good personal hygiene, wearing a mask, avoiding crowded places and sick individuals, practicing quarantine, and proper choice of food can help an individual to be safe from the risk of current COVID-19 infection. Research findings state that nutrition influences immune strength thereby protecting our body from the attack of pathogens3. Increasing intake of a nutritious diet can help to enhance the immune system and makes an individual less susceptible to diseases, which is also considered as a key factor for the prevention of viral infection like COVID-19. Therefore, the incorporation of foods rich in nutrients that boosts our immunity is one of the possible essential preventive measures to fight with this global crisis.
References
Lu R, Zhao X, Li J, Niu P, Yang B, Wu H, Wang W, Song H, Huang B, Zhu N, Bi Y. Genomic characterization and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding. The Lancet. 2020 Feb 22;395 (10224):565-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30251-8
Qin C, Zhou L, Hu Z, Zhang S, Yang S, Tao Y, Xie C, Ma K, Shang K, Wang W, Tian DS. Dysregulation of immune response in patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2020 Mar 12. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3541136
Wimalawansa SJ. global epidemic of coronavirus—covid-19: what can we do to minimize risks. european Journal of Biomedical. 2020;7(3):432-8.
Guo YR, Cao QD, Hong ZS, Tan YY, Chen SD, Jin HJ, Tan KS, Wang DY, Yan Y. The origin, transmission and clinical therapies on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak–an update on the status. Military Medical Research. 2020;7(1):1-0. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40779-020-00240-0
World Health Organization, Coronavirus disease situation report. Accessed from; https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
Coronavirus(2019-nCoV). Accessed from; https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/nepal.2020. [Link]
Childs CE, Calder PC, Miles EA. Diet and Immune Function. 2019;11(8); 1933 https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11081933
Boone HA, Čustović A, Hotić S, Latinović D, Sijerčić A. How to Fight COVID-19 Using a Healthy Lifestyle Approach.2020.
Janeway Jr CA. How the immune system protects the host from infection. Microbes and infection. 2001 Nov 1;3(13):1167-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1286-4579(01)01477-0
Li G, Fan Y, Lai Y, Han T, Li Z, Zhou P, Pan P, Wang W, Hu D, Liu X, Zhang Q. Coronavirus infections and immune responses. Journal of medical virology. 2020 ;92(4):424-32. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25685
McIntosh K. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Edited by Martin S. Hirsch. UpToDate, https://www. uptodate.Com/contents/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19. 2020. [Link]
D’Souza R, Banerjee A. An Insight into Coronavirus: A Global Pandemic of the 21 st Century.2020.
Lopez-Varela S, Gonzalez-Gross M, Marcos A. Functional foods and the immune system: a review. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2002;56(3):S29-33.https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601481
Sanderson S. Immune System Defence with Vitamin C and Magnesium.2020.
Hewlings SJ, Douglas S. Kalman. Curcumin: A Review of Its’ Effects on Human Health.” Foods. 2017;6:10-92. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods6100092
Somerville VS, Braakhuis AJ, Hopkins WG. Effect of flavonoids on upper respiratory tract infections and immune function: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Advances in nutrition. 2016 May;7(3):488-97. https://doi.org/10.3945/an.115.010538
Törrönen R, Määttä K. Bioactive substances and health benefits of strawberries. InIV International Strawberry Symposium. 2000; 567:797-803). https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2002.567.176
Nandha R, Singh H, Garg K, Rani S. Therapeutic potential of sunflower seeds: An overview. IJRDPL. 2014; 3:0.
Erol A. High-dose intravenous vitamin C treatment for COVID-19.2020. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/p7ex8
Cheung PC, editor. Mushrooms as functional foods. John Wiley & Sons; 2008 Dec 29. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470367285
Amersbach G. Coronavirus and the Importance of a Strong Immune System. Mar 11,2020. https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.14.SPL1.31
Asmita Priyadarshini Khatiwada and Sunil Shrestha, Pharmacy Patronage: Identifying the Roles of Nepalese Pharmacists in Tacking COVID-19, J. Pure Appl. Microbiol., May 2020; 14(Spl Edn.).
Join IFM, Calendar P. Boosting Immunity: Functional Medicine Tips on Prevention & Immunity Boosting During the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Outbreak.2020
Copyright (c) 2020 Author
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All articles published in EJMS are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0). The author(s) as the copyright holder will retain the ownership of the copyrights without any restrictions for their content under the CC-BY 4.0 license, and allow others to copy, use, print, share, modify, and distribute the content of the article even in commercial purpose as long as the original authors and the journal are properly cited. No permission is required from the author/s or the publishers. Appropriate attribution can be provided by simply citing the original article.
On behalf of all the authors, the corresponding author is responsible for completing and returning the agreement form to the editorial office. More information about the terms and conditions, privacy policies, and copyrights can be found on the webpage of the Creative Commons license privacy policy. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
