01-16-2022, 02:16 PM
This is the ‘worst food ingredient for your immune system’—especially during Covid, says immunologist
![[Image: 107001694-1642188617080-gettyimages-1192...=740&h=416]](https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107001694-1642188617080-gettyimages-1192279133-20150208b220ps20191024azp.jpeg?v=1642189893&w=740&h=416)
When the first wave of Covid hit the U.S., it became clear that the majority of patients being placed on ventilators had a series of underlying conditions. Among those were metabolic disorders like obesity and diabetes, both of which have been surging in the U.S. over the past few years.
A question that puzzled people at the beginning of the pandemic was: Why does diabetes make it harder to fight a respiratory virus?
First, we know that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can make blood sugar control worse in the short term and can potentially throw people with diabetes into a very dangerous blood sugar state, studies show. It does this by binding itself to the receptors found on the beta cells of the pancreas, which produce insulin.
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