Covid -19 Update: The Elephant Is Still In The Room
Hello everyone:
What the title of this week’s newsletter is referring to is the negative impact on the immune system of having poor metabolic health. While one does not have to be obese or overweight to be metabolically unwell, it is a great example that illustrates how being overweight and/or obese induces a chronic inflammatory state that markedly impairs immune function…thus increasing susceptibility and severity of viral infections, both flu and Covid-19, as well as many other diseases.
The authors define this cluster of metabolic issues:
“Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of metabolic disorders that can lead to serious health conditions. Established features of MetS are visceral adiposity, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, endothelial dysfunction, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. MetS is clinically diagnosed as the co-occurrence of three or more of these pathologies, which are interrelated because of overlapping metabolic pathways and pathophysiologic mechanisms.”
And in summary they state: “ The increasing prevalence of metabolic syndrome is a major public health issue. Over the years, humans have adopted sedentary lifestyles and dietary patterns have shifted to excessive food consumption and poor nutrition. Overnutrition has led to the constellation of metabolic abnormalities that not only contributes to metabolic reprogramming but also limits host innate and adaptive immunity. Impaired immune responses and chronic inflammation in metabolically diseased microenvironments provide the ideal conditions for viral exploitation of host cells and enhanced viral pathogenesis. Consequently, obesity, T2DM, and associated co-morbidities have been established as risk factors for severe influenza and coronavirus infections. Delayed defense mechanisms favor viral spread, enhanced replication, and persistent infections in these high-risk populations.”
Bottom Line: It is fairly straightforward that we must all be as metabolically fit and healthy as possible, and the two most promising strategies to reverse this societal trend are eating clean, organic, unprocessed whole foods, and movement. Even in the midst of this pandemic, it is not too late to reduce your risk of infection by practicing healthier habits related to food and exercise. In fact, it would be wise to use this pandemic as a springboard for propelling yourself to optimal health. Already a lot of people are getting this message and I have been fortunate to witness a good number of people upgrading their lifestyle and lowering their risk of infection as well as most chronic diseases. If you need some more information, refer back to my earlier blog posts about optimal food plans and the reasons behind such recommendations.
You can go to my resource page and find information on food plans for blood sugar (cardiometabolic food plans), low inflammatory foods (elimination diet) and energy recovery (mito plan), as well a many other food related resources.
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