Pandemic Protection
Targeted Nutrition to Build Resilience and Recovery
The current pandemic has opened a Pandora’s Box of risk and opportunity. Information is being shared, worldwide on best practices for ways to manage risk and contain infection from COVID-19 and subsequent variations. This viral threat can be the wakeup call our global family needs to pivot from feeling personally endangered to becoming collectively empowered.
People with pre-existing health conditions like diabetes and heart disease are at higher risk of hospitalization and death due to COVID-19. In fact, some research suggests that people under 65 years of age that have a pre-existing condition have the same risk as people over the age of 65 with no pre-existing conditions. Consider the following:
People with pre-existing heart conditions are three times more likely to die as a result of COVID-19
People with diabetes are also three times more likely to die from COVID-19
People with chronic kidney disease are twice as likely to die from COVID-19
Some studies suggest that obesity is second only to age as a risk factor for hospitalization from COVID-19, even when no other health conditions are present. And young adults with obesity seem to be at particular risk.
These statistics are frightening. Almost 70% of the U.S. population is overweight, and 40% are now obese. One in three Americans has pre-diabetes or diabetes. Cardiovascular disease is the #1 cause of death in the United States. This means that roughly half of Americans are at increased risk of complications due to COVID-19.
Most of the pre-existing conditions that increase the risk of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 are driven by diet and lifestyle, and are preventable given adequate education, economy and support. They’re a result of a mismatch between our genes, environment, and biology, compounded by infectious agents, a fragile physical, emotional and social structure, impacted by dramatic climate cataclysm, and chronic stress. What a set up for collapse and unprecedented vulnerability!
Promising Research on Using Nutrition to Build Resilience and Recovery
Many key nutrients — including vitamins A, B-6, B-12, C, D, E, and folate, plus trace elements, including Zinc, Iron, Selenium, and Magnesium — play important and complementary roles in supporting both the innate and adaptive immune systems. Vital information on the role of these nutrients to support well-being when living in threatening times is not included in the pandemic prevention narrative despite the widespread deficiencies in our society, especially among the elderly, who are most at risk for severe outcomes associated with viral infections. Sub-optimal status in phytonutrients (colorful plant flavonoids and carotenes) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) negatively affects immune function, decreases resistance to infection and slows recovery for those with complex health conditions.
When people are stressed, their nutrient reserves are depleted. Often, they cope with stress by eating worse, and relying on drugs, alcohol and distractions for temporary relief. With any viral infection, nutrient deficiencies increase the risk of complications, including the very uncomfortable pain and fever symptoms of an inflammatory cytokine storm. Few studies have been done on the effect of a cooling, calming, nourishing, plant predominant diet on the prevention of COVID-19 and mitigation of its symptoms if it is contracted. However, a recent systematic review concluded that supplementation with many immune supportive food, herbs and nutrients may be effective in improving the health status of patients with viral infections (Bour-Bour et al., 2020)
The Importance of Vitamin D and Zinc in Immunity
Two of the most essential nutrients for immune health are vitamin D and Zinc. Vitamin D profoundly influences immunity, and a deficiency clearly increases the risk for respiratory infections. Many immune cells have vitamin D receptors that affect their function after ligand binding. A recent research review article highlighted the current status of vitamin D deficiency, the mechanisms and action of vitamin D and the current literature on the topic, with a special focus on the potential implications for the COVID-19 pandemic (Verdoia et al., 2020). Several recent studies have concluded that low levels of vitamin D are associated with increased risk of COVID-19 and/or severity of COVID-19 infections (Mitchell, 2020; Merzon et al., 2020).
Even marginal Zinc deficiency can negatively affect immunity. Zinc is important for the maintenance and development of cells in both the innate and adaptive immune systems. A deficiency results in impaired formation, activation and maturation of lymphocytes, disturbs the inter-cellular communication via cytokines, and weakens the innate host defense (Mitchell, 2020; Merzon et al., 2020). Research studies suggest that Zinc could have protective effects against COVID-19 by supporting anti-viral immunity and reducing inflammation.
Essential Fatty Acids and Inflammation
An inflammatory cascade (or “cytokine storm”) triggered by COVID-19 is one of the most dangerous aspects of the disease. It makes sense to consider dietary protocols that help the body naturally regulate inflammation.
Essential fatty acids (EFAs) have long been recognized for their role in calming inflammation. In particular, nutritional deficiencies in the essential fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), result in delayed or suboptimal resolution of inflammation (Hammock et al., 2020).
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection leads to severe tissue damage, which releases cell debris. Research shows that omega-3 fatty acid–derived EPA and DHA exhibit anti-inflammatory activity in various inflammatory diseases, including in the lung, heart, ocular angiogenesis, and pain (Schunck et al., 2018).
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) Blocks Inflammatory Cascade
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a potent redox-antioxidant, whose food source is the cruciferous vegetable family. Studies show that NAC is effective at reducing acute attacks of chronic bronchitis. A meta-analysis from 2000 looked at eight different studies and concluded that NAC prevented acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis (Moktari et al., 2017). Administration of NAC during the winter months appears to significantly reduce influenza and influenza-like episodes, especially in elderly high-risk individuals (De Flora, 1997). Since one of the main symptoms of COVID-19 is a cough, it’s possible that NAC could help to reduce the severity of this symptom. It seems to help in a variety of lung disorders by affecting glutathione and reducing inflammation (Tiouvanziam et al., 2016).
Eating for Health™
The basis of all evidence based nutritionally sound food plans is to eat a well-rounded, nutrient-dense, chemical free, whole food diet. The Bauman Eating for Health™ model provides a unified food system consisting of beverages, colorful carbohydrates, booster food herbs, spices and condiments, quality protein and fats synergistically to build health. Other food models emphasize the value of one food category with a restriction of others. This reductionist approach is not only challenging to follow, but has diminishing returns over time, and certain valuable foods, such as complex carbohydrates or protein are limited.
Eating for Health™ encourages one to eat as much S.O.U.L. (seasonal, organic, unprocessed and local) food as possible. It suggests limiting or eliminating refined sugar, gluten (wheat, rye, barley and oat) flour and grains, additives, preservatives, pesticides, fungicides, food coloring, and genetically modified food. These substances with an occasional or single exposure are tolerated by a healthy person. But, when combined and experienced on a daily basis, are disturbing to a compromised neurological, metabolic, and hormonal and or immune system. Repeated exposure to food and chemical antigens contribute to both hyper- and hypo-immune conditions, making a person more vulnerable to and slower to recover from a viral infection.
Hydration may be more important than food, as dehydration is both a cause and result of a compromised immune system. Caffeine, sugar and sugar substitutes (sports drinks and Coke Zero) contribute to dehydration. As such, a liter of soda or several cups of coffee are not healthy fluids. Drink a half a cup of water or unsweetened tea per hour each day to be ideally hydrated. This is preferred to drinking several cups at a time and then not hydrating again for several hours. Green tea is a more immune-supporting beverage than coffee. For most, 8-12 oz. of coffee in the morning is acceptable. Thereafter, make a liter of bioflavonoid rich white or green tea, masala chai and/or herbal tea. Decaffeinated green and black teas are available for those with caffeine sensitivity.
Minimizing one’s intake of alcohol, drugs, tobacco, stimulants, aspartame, sweets and treats are suggested. For many, these are the substances they reach for when stressed or overwhelmed. Eating for Health™ enables one to stay C.A.L.M. (calm and living in the moment) rather than overwhelmed by F.E.A.R. (future expectations about reality). Exercise, meditation and creative arts are also wonderful wellness behaviors to practice on a daily basis with more inner space now available due to social distancing.
Intermittent fasting, a practice wherein a person abstains from solid food for 12-14 hours a day, typically from an early dinner to breakfast the next day is a great way to enhance digestion, absorption, metabolism, and immune competency.
Integrative Health Solutions
A recent meta-analysis evaluating the effectiveness of herbal medicines for managing the symptoms of COVID-19 found that combining herbal medicine with Western medicine significantly improved symptoms caused by the virus, including cough, sore throat, and fatigue.
“If this virus has taught us anything, it is that general health optimization is what really matters. Healing is not just about your immune system, or any one part of the body. Healing is about WHOLENESS and total VITALITY. All systems are connected, and this is why the foundation of what we do is to build robustness, enhance auto-regulation and auto-organization, and support adaptation and protection through herbal and nutritional support that is gentle, non-specific, and multi-faceted.” — Donnie Yance, 2020
Below is the Eating for Health™ Model (Bauman, 2020). Take a look at which of these categories you are eating on a daily basis and which ones you can add to improve your diet.
Spice for Life™
Adding herbs and spices to your meals, snacks and beverages will give you extra protections. A Spice Warrior blend consists of garlic, ginger, turmeric, ashwagandha, tulsi basil, pepper, and oregano to boost circulating and cellular immunity.
Immune-Boosting Foods and Combinations
Allium family of vegetables: onions, leeks, chives, scallions and garlic
Citrus fruit — lemon, orange, tangerine, lime etc.
Fruit and peels
Beets, cooked greens (nettles is #1),
Fresh orange juice is rich in vitamin C and quercetin, hesperetin and luteolin.
Carrots, celery, celery root, artichoke, asparagus
Cruciferous vegetables with shiitake mushrooms: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts,
Fruit: pears (poached with ginger, honey, orange slices and a cinnamon stick)
Homemade tomato sauce on spaghetti squash or spiralized zucchini
Pomegranates or pomegranate juice
Apple cider drink — combine ¼ cup vinegar, ¼ lemon juice, ¼ raw honey, 1 tsp. ginger juice, pinch of cayenne and 1-quart water, or a tea-blend. Drink 3-4 oz. with, before, or during meals.
Nuts, seeds and seaweed
Lentil or Chicken Soup with garlic, ginger, turmeric, curry, oregano, thyme
Rest to Recover
Fatigue lowers our immunity and makes us more vulnerable to infection, injury and chronic illness. It slows our recovery. A personal or small group self healing retreat in a low risk area is a great way to create viral protection and recovery rather than being the subject of a forced quarantine. Both are a withdrawal from the outside world, but with a different mindset.
Foundational Nutrients
Research is abundant that the following supplements, herbs, spices, essential oils and remedies significantly decrease the frequency and severity of viral illness. Your diet should be checked first to see which of the following are most needed. It is advised to work with a certified nutrition consultant, naturopathic or integrative health provider to select the proper combination of nutrients and dosage that fits your age, health status, environmental exposures and health condition.
Zinc: 30-45 mg, 2 times/day
Vitamin C: 500 mg, 3-5 times/day. Best forms are amla (from gooseberries) buffered, liposomal or ester Vitamin C.
Vitamin D: 2000-5000 IU/day based upon health status and body weight.
Probiotics: These friendly bacteria, vital for good health, immunity and digestion. They have been shown to decrease the number of upper respiratory infections significantly. 50 billion units of a mixed flora product.
Essential Fatty Acids: EPA/DHA from fish or algae is essential for our brain, nerves and immune system to work efficiently. Under stress, systems become inflamed. Recommendation: 2-3 grams EPA/DHA per day.
N-acetylcysteine (NAC): 300 mg, 2-3 times/day
For Greater Anti-Viral Protection for Anyone Over 60 or in Poor Health
Quercetin: a cell protective bioflavonoid. 500-1000 mg/day
Vitamin A: 10,000 iu/day
Selenium: 200 mcg, 2-3 times/day
Liposomal Glutathione: 250 mg, 2 times/day
Melatonin: 2-5 mg before bed
Herbal Support for Affected Body Systems
It is advised to work with a skilled herbalist or naturopathic physician to select the proper blend, dose and duration for you given your age, exposures and health condition.
Immune System: Select one or more of the following — 2-4 times/day
Medicinal mushrooms
Propolis
Astragalus
Eleuthero
Licorice
Garlic
Anti-Viral Herbs — prevention and treatment of chronic or acute viral infection:
Osha Root
Lomatium
Andrographis
Oregon grape
Scutellaria baicalensis
Yarrow
Cool Inflammation, Lessen Pain, Regain Vitality:
Turmeric
Astragalus
Rhodiola
Japanese knotweed
Kudzu
Huang Qin (Scutellaria baicalensis)
Cordyceps
Boneset
Respiratory Support:
Licorice
Mullein
Wild cherry
Lobelia
Marshmallow
Ginger
Thyme
Elderberry
Lymphatic Support:
Red root
Cleavers
Mullein
Spilanthes
Figwort
Essential Oils — Add several drops of one or more into a diffuser, in a bath or rubbed onto the soles of your feet:
Lavender
Eucalyptus
Clove
Grapefruit
Thyme
Tea tree
Lemon grass
Frankincense
Myrrh
Conclusion
A virus or other pathogen gains a foothold into our cells via a chronically weak or compromised body system. As such, being a health warrior is far better than being a disease worrier. COVID-19 is in our biome, our world. So, too are trillions of healthy micro-defenders within our gut, cellular and humoral (circulating) immune system. Our best defense is staying away from crowds and toxic environments, and improving our Wellness Practices, which include:
Eating for Health
Healthy Lifestyle
Mindfulness
Healing Relationships
Spiritual Practice
Our health is in our hands. It is ours to protect and improve. Let’s not lose control of our health freedom or abdicate our responsibility to stay well. Panic feeds pandemics. It weakens our individual and collective body. Listen and follow guidance from sane and reliable sources, including your own inner knowing. To stay abreast of evidence based natural health viral protection, follow blogs and social media postings on BaumanWellness.com and BaumanCollege.org.
REFERENCES AND RESOURCES
Bauman College: Affordable Nutrition Workbook and Program. Bauman College Press (2019)
Bauman, E and Marx L, Flavors of Health Cookbook, Bauman College Press (2012)
Bauman, E and Moorthy, S. Spice for Life: Self-Healing Recipes, Remedies and Research, self-published (2020)
BourBour F, Mirzaei Dahka S, Gholamalizadeh M, et al. Nutrients in prevention, treatment, and management of viral infections; special focus on Coronavirus [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jul 9]. Arch Physiol Biochem. 2020;1-10. doi:10.1080/13813455.2020.1791188
Centers for Disease Control: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html
Cousens, G, COVID-19 Fact Sheet and Protocol: https://www.creationsmagazine.com/2020/07/17/covid-19-fact-sheet-by-gabriel-cousens-md/
De Flora*, C. Grassi**, L. Carati Attenuation of influenza-like symptomatology and improvement of cell-mediated immunity with long-term N-acetylcysteine treatment, Eur Respir J 1997; 10: 1535–1541 DOI: 10.1183/09031936.97.10071535
Hendrick, R, Lockdown, https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/coronavirus-lockdown-poem
Kresser, C. Diet and Lifestyle are Driving COVID-19 Severity (blog Ap 28, 2020)
Kresser, C. Post Viral Complication of COVID-19 (Aug 4, 2020)
Laird, E., Rhodes, J., Kenny RA., Vitamin D and Inflammation: Potential Implications for the Severity of COVID-19, Irish Medical Journal, Vol. 113, No. 5, P 81, http://imj.ie/vitamin-d-and-inflammation-potential-implications-for-severity-of-covid-19/, Aust. 11, 2020
Merzon E, Tworowski D, Gorohovski A, et al. Low plasma 25(OH) vitamin D level is associated with increased risk of COVID-19 infection: an Israeli population-based study [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jul 23]. FEBS J. 2020;10.1111/febs.15495. doi:10.1111/febs.15495
Mitchell F. Vitamin-D and COVID-19: Do deficient risk a poorer outcome? Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2020;8(7):570. doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(20)30183-2
Mokhtari, M.Sc.1, 2, 3, Parvaneh Afsharian, Ph.D.2, Maryam Shahhoseini, Ph.D.2, Seyed Mehdi Kalantar, Ph.D.1, Ashraf Moini, M.D. A Review on Various Uses of N-Acetyl Cysteine, CELL JOURNAL(Yakhteh), Vol 19, No 1, Apr- Jun (Spring) 2017
Sharkawy, A, On Managing Virphobia: https://baumancollege.org/coronavirus-update-best-practices-for-natural-protection/
Spector, M, The New Coronavirus and Preparing for the Next Viral Pandemic: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-new-coronavirus-and-preparing-for-the-next-viral-pandemic
Steinblock, R, Coronavirus: What You Need to Know to Stay Safe: https://mindfulfamilymedicine.com/coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know-how-to-stay-safe/
Tiouvanziam, R., Conrad, C., Bottiglieri, T., Herzenberg, L., et al. (2006). High-dose oral N-acetylcysteine, a glutathione prodrug, modulates inflammation in cystic fibrosis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(12):4628-33. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1450222/
Verdoia M, De Luca G. Potential role of hypovitaminosis D and Vitamin D supplementation during COVID-19 pandemic [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jul 31]. QJM. 2020;hcaa234. doi:10.1093/qjmed/hcaa234. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32735326/
World Health Organization, Rolling updates on coronavirus disease (COVID-19): https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-as-they-happen
Yance, D. Targeting CoVid-19 Utilizing Unitive Medicine — Botanical, Nutritional, Dietary and Lifestyle Approaches. SW Conference on Botanical Medicine, March 28, 2020
Yance, D. New information on Coronavirus Transmission and Susceptibility, July 8, 2020 https://www.donnieyance.com/new-information-on-coronavirus-transmission-and-susceptibility/
