Covid Shorts: Plant-based diet reduces severity of Covid-19

[superadmin]

A study across six countries involving frontliners shows that a plant-based diet can help lower the odds of developing moderate to severe Covid-19 infection.

Researchers found that a plant-based diet may lessen the severity of Covid-19 infection by 73%. The same study, published in the online journal BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health, suggests that a plant-based diet with fish included could lower the severity by 59%.

They define plant-based diets as “dietary patterns that are high in plant foods and low in animal products”.

The researchers, led by Dr Sara B Seidelmann of Stamford Hospital, Greenwich, US, wanted to find out if and how diet affects the disease.

They drew on a survey of 2,884 frontline doctors and nurses with extensive exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19 infection, working in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and the US. It was based on a 47-item food frequency (over the past year) questionnaire and the severity of any Covid-19 infections they had had. Men outnumbered women in the study.Using 568 Covid-19 cases and 2,316 controls, they found that 138 of the 568 cases had moderate-to-severe Covid-19 severity while 430 had very mild to mild severity.

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