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Hopefully my newsletter finds you in good health.

 

 

 

 

According to Harvard Medical School, the first line of defense to strengthen immunity is to choose a healthy lifestyle:

 

 

 

 

I came across a few different articles that I would love to share:

 

‘For the past two years, we’ve been flooded with Covid-related information. We’ve heard conflicting recommendations on everything from how to prevent the spread, reduce the severity, and recover, but many people are still unsure of which actions make the most impact.

 

To me, a key underlying issue of the pandemic is that we aren’t addressing the health of the host. With the virus actively looking for a new home, it’s within our power to make our bodies the least appealing place for it to settle down.

 

Healthy diet and lifestyle choices don’t just set us up to avoid chronic disease, they make us stronger against all the different pathogens we come across. That includes Covid-19, but unfortunately, steps towards overall wellness aren’t widely recognized as effective prevention strategies.

 

In the US, sixty-three percent of Covid hospitalizations could be prevented by healthier diets. That’s because we’re constantly bombarded by inflammatory foods that disrupt our immune response.’ (Dr. Mark Hyman: How to upgrade your immune system to fight viruses and to prevent disease)

 

Please read about several immune boosting vitamins from Harvard School of Public Health (The Nutrition Source, Ask the Expert):

 

We have known for a long time that nutrition is intricately linked to immunity and to the risk and severity of infections. Poorly nourished individuals are at a greater risk of various bacterial, viral, and other infections. Conversely, chronic, or severe infections lead to nutritional disorders or worsen the nutritional status of affected people. Therefore, it is imperative for all of us to pay attention to our diet and nutritional status. Furthermore, the clinical course of COVID-19 disease tends to be more severe among older individuals and among people with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension and cancer that are partly related to nutrition.

 

Indeed, consuming good quality diets is always desirable, and this is particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic. A healthy diet, emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts, moderate consumption of fish, and poultry, and limited intake of red and processed meat. Added fats should be primarily liquid oils such as olive and avocado oil. Such a diet will provide appropriate amounts of healthy macronutrients and essential minerals and vitamins. Eating high-quality sources of protein, fat, and carbohydrate can help maintain a healthy weight and good metabolic state; this is not a time for highly restrictive, crash diets. If someone does develop a COVID-19 infection, eating enough of these healthy calories to prevent unintended weight loss is important. Adequate amounts of minerals and vitamins provided by a healthy diet helps to ensure sufficient numbers of immune cells and antibodies, which are important as the body mounts a response to infections.

 

There have been many studies evaluating intakes of specific nutrients in relation to other infections. To give a few examples:

 

• Zinc is a component of many enzymes and transcription factors in cells all over the body, and inadequate zinc levels limit the individual’s ability to mount an adequate immune response to infections. Multiple meta-analyses and pooled analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have shown that oral zinc supplementation reduces the incidence rate of acute respiratory infections by 35%, shortens the duration of flu-like symptoms by approximately 2 days, and improves the rate of recovery. The studies were conducted in the US as well as in multiple low- and middle-income countries such as India, South Africa, and Peru. The dose of zinc in these studies ranged from 20 mg/week to larger amounts per day.
• Vitamin C acts as an antioxidant, limiting inflammation and tissue damage associated with immune responses. RCTs evaluating the effectiveness of vitamin C have been conducted among soldiers, young boys, and older people in the US, the UK, and Japan. In these studies, vitamin C supplementation was shown to significantly reduce the incidence of respiratory tract infections. The effectiveness of vitamin C has also been studied among hospitalized patients in the US, Egypt, and Iran, admitted for a wide variety of conditions including severe sepsis, postoperative complications, burns, lung contusions, and cardiac conditions. Vitamin C was shown to reduce the duration of stay in the intensive care unit and need for mechanical ventilation among these patients. The dose of vitamin C varied from 1-3 g/day, and dose does not appear to be the main driver of effectiveness. Doses of vitamin C above 2 g/day should be avoided outside of medical care.
• Evidence from several clinical trials and pooled studies show that vitamin D supplementation lowers the odds of developing acute respiratory tract infections (most of which are assumed to be due to viruses) by 12% to 75%. These studies included both the seasonal and pandemic flu caused by H1N1 virus in 2009. The beneficial effect of supplementation was seen in patients across all ages, and individuals with pre-existing chronic illnesses. Among those who were infected, flu symptoms were fewer, and recovery was earlier if they had received doses of vitamin D greater than 1000 IU. The benefits were relatively greater in individuals with vitamin D deficiency than in those who had adequate levels of vitamin D.
• Older adults are most often deficient in these helpful micronutrients, and thus can derive the greatest benefit from supplementation.

 

Dr. Wafaie Fawzi, Dr. Walter Willett, and PhD student, Dr. Ibraheem Abioye

 

Please always discuss supplementation with your Primary Care Physician!

 

 

 

 

 

Food First!

 

Here are some examples of excellent food sources of those Nutrients.

 

Foods Rich in Zinc

 

 

Vitamin C Rich Foods

 

 

Vitamin D Rich Foods

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We test for most of these foods in the FIT Tests. Is it time to see if your food sensitivities have changed? My husband and I test ourselves regularly with a FIT Test to see what has changed. Some foods that we react to in the FIT Test might cause inflammation in us for life, other we might have overconsumed. It is exciting to see how our reactions change over time by avoiding the reactive foods. Please call me if you have questions about getting re-tested. On my home page you find a chart with all the foods listed that the different tests I currently offer test for. I love the FIT 176 Test because we eat a large variety of different foods. It covers so many items, which is very helpful for supplement decisions too.

 

Please let me know if you are looking for Nutrition Coaching to make it all work. Once you have invested into the FIT Test and need support to stay on course, please call me to set up an appointment. I am here for you to support!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 In partnership with:

 

 

 

 

Simplify  Holistic Nutrition Consulting

www.SimplifyHolisticNutrition.com

Washington Street,

Norwell, MA 02061

(781) 883-5951

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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