Combat COVID Now with Diet, Exercise and Vitamin D

VitalityExplorers.com

We are missing a massive opportunity to combat the COVID pandemic.

Diet, exercise and vitamin D levels are all modifiable COVID risk factors. The media, politicians and most of the medical community have ignored addressing these factors. Vaccines, masking and social distancing are all meaningful tools to combat the virus but they are not the only options.

Here are my three specific recommendations:

·      Highlight weight as a serious issue in the context of COVID.

·      Initiate a #MoveNOW campaign to inspire people to exercise.

·      Consider vitamin D supplementation of at-risk populations immediately.

Let’s begin by touching the third rail of medicine—weight. Most physicians ignore discussing a patient’s weight during any office visit. This is wrong. Many disorders and diseases including COVID are made worse by being overweight or obese. The CDC agrees. They specifically state on their website “the risk of severe COVID-19 illness increases sharply with elevated BMI.” More than thirty percent of hospitalizations in adults can be attributed to obesity. And, children with obesity have a three times higher rate of hospitalization and a 42% higher risk of severe illness. I therefore recommend we begin a campaign to help people optimize their weight. The media could be leaders by giving more coverage to the issue.

Screen Shot from the CDC Website:

The next issue is inadequate exercise. We have been told to stay inside and gyms have been closed or restricted. Also, almost no one is highlighting how exercise can help combat COVID. The scientific evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of exercise. Low to moderate exercise helps optimize the balance of T-helper cells in the bloodstream and improves cardiorespiratory fitness. (Sprirya et al 2021). Last year, I published an editorial in an orthopedic journal suggesting we initiate a #MoveNOW campaign. The goal of the campaign still is to get as many people moving as possible. This could be walking, hiking, swimming or biking. Just do something to get moving. This helps improve your immune and cardiorespiratory systems thereby decreasing your risk of having a severe form of COVID. Exercise has also been shown to improve the immunologic response to vaccination. (Mishra and Murrell 2021)

Screen Shot from the paper:

Finally, let’s discuss vitamin D in the context of the COVID pandemic. Vitamin D is an immunomodulatory hormone that has been found to correlate with mortality from COVID. An inverse relationship was identified in a recent meta-analysis. This paper suggested the death rate from the virus could be close to zero at a vitamin D level of 50 ng / mL (Borsche 2021). This is higher level than the typically considered normal of 30 ng / mL but still well within the safe zone. This data is important for people of color and elderly individuals because they are at a higher risk for having low vitamin D levels. This data is also crucial to disseminate widely as soon as possible because vitamin D supplementation could help populations that presently do not have adequate access to vaccinations. We should be initiating large prospective trials to test the hypothesis that vitamin D could be helpful in the battle against COVID-19.

Here again are my three specific recommendations:

·      Highlight weight as a serious issue in the context of COVID.

·      Initiate a #MoveNOW campaign to inspire people to exercise.

·      Consider vitamin D supplementation of at-risk populations immediately.

We should execute on these recommendations as soon as possible. They have the potential to save lives and mitigate the impact of the COVID pandemic.

I welcome the opportunity to further discuss these points. And, I also look forward to collaborating with any individuals or institutions that may be interested.

Allan Mishra, MD

Board-certified orthopedic surgeon

Instructor, Stanford Continuing Studies

References:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html#obesity

https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/obesity-and-covid-19.html

https://biologicortho.com/index.php/BiologicOrtho/article/view/15/10

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35003073/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34684596/