The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) – A supportive approach with selected micronutrients

Abstract

Abstract. Worldwide the pandemic of COVID-19 spreads rapidly and has had an enormous public health impact with substantial morbidity and mortality especially in high-risk groups, such as older people and patients with comorbidities like diabetes, dementia or cancer. In the absence of a vaccine against COVID-19 there is an urgent need to find supportive therapies that can stabilize the immune system and can help to deal with the infection, especially for vulnerable groups such as the elderly. This is especially relevant for our geriatric institutions and nursing homes. A major potential contributing factor for elderly is due to their high incidence of malnutrition: up to 80% among the hospitalized elderly. Malnutrition results when adequate macronutrients and micronutrients are lacking in the diet. Often missing in public health discussions around preventing and treating COVID-19 patients are nutritional strategies to support optimal function of their immune system. This is surprising, given the importance that nutrients play a significant role for immune function. Several micronutrients, such as vitamin D, retinol, vitamin C, selenium and zinc are of special importance supporting both the adaptive and innate immune systems. As suboptimal status or deficiencies in these immune-relevant micronutrients impair immune function and reduces the resistance to infections, micronutrient deficiencies should therefore be corrected as soon as possible, especially in the elderly and other vulnerable groups. According to epidemiological, experimental and observational studies, some case reports and a few intervention studies the supplementation of vitamin D and/or zinc are promising. The multiple anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects of Vitamin D could explain its protective role against immune hyper reaction and cytokine storm in patients with severe COVID-19. A randomized, placebo-controlled intervention study even shows that high dose vitamin D supplementation promotes viral clearance in asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals. Besides, the data of a recent prospective study with COVID-19 patients reveal that a significant number of them were zinc deficient. The zinc deficient patients had more complications and the deficiency was associated with a prolonged hospital stay and increased mortality. Thus, immune-relevant micronutrients may help to increase the physiological resilience against COVID-19.

Characterization of Phytochemicals in Ulva intestinalis L. and Their Action Against SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein Receptor-Binding Domain

“…Retinal is a vitamin A aldehyde in the most absorbable form. Many studies have pointed the role of vitamins which include retinal, in managing COVID-19 (Michele et al, 2020;Morais et al, 2020;Gröber and Holick, 2021). DTD is a macrocyclicditerpene, primarily isolated from the Tobacco plant (Nicotianatabacum).…”

Association of Vitamin D, Zinc and Selenium Related Genetic Variants With COVID-19 Disease Severity

“…Zinc exerts direct anti-viral effects and also serves as a cofactor of dozens of proteins important for immune function and regulation, and antioxidative defense (9). Selenium via selenoproteins regulates immune function and provides antioxidant defense and vaso-protection (10).…”

Fat-Soluble Vitamins and the Current Global Pandemic of COVID-19: Evidence-Based Efficacy from Literature Review

“…Those are MAPK1 (mitogen-activated protein kinase 1), IL-10 (interleukin 10), EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor), ICAM1 (intercellular adhesion molecule 1), MAPK14 (mitogen-activated protein kinase 14), CAT (catalase), and PRKCB (protein kinase C β). 78,79 Thereby, several studies reported that vitamin A and related compounds have a potentially beneficial role in the management of COVID-19. 77,[80][81][82] Moreover, it has been reported that vitamin A can minimize COVID-19-induced adverse effects on the angiotensin system and minimize medication-related adverse effects.…”