Diet and COVID 19

Your diet will not protect you from contracting COVID 19.  To protect yourself, try to follow the advice of the experts.  Michael Osterholm is an expert in infectious disease epidemiology from the University of Minnesota.  He was interviewed by Joe Rogan and provides nuanced information on COVID 19 in this YouTube video which has been viewed by more than 12 million people. 

Although a whole food plant based (WFPB) diet can’t protect you from the virus, it can give your immune system the best chance to fight the virus once you are infected.   This is a big deal as it is estimated that 40 to 70% of people throughout the world will eventually be infected. The good news is that most people will have mild to no symptoms.  The bad news is that many people will get very sick and die. 

It’s a numbers game

There are approximately 330 million people in the US.  The mortality rate of COVID 19 has been reported to be as high as 3.4%, but most experts believe that as more people are tested, this number will be adjusted downward. In South Korea, where many more people have been tested, the mortality rate is 0.6%.  Of course, the mortality rate will be much higher for the:

•  elderly
• those who have a suppressed immune system
• smokers
• those with respiratory conditions

40% of 330 million people means that 132 million Americans will be infected with the virus. If the 0.6% mortality rate is correct, it means that the virus will kill 792,000 Americans.  To put that number in perspective, our number one killer, coronary heart disease (CHD), kills 647,000 Americans every year. 

So if you’ve been dabbling in a WFPB diet, this might be the time for you to get serious about it.  A WFPB diet can’t stop an acute viral infection, but it might be able to prevent serious illness if and when you become infected with COVID 19. 

Also, please be aware that many doctors are recommending NOT to use anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen to mitigate COVID 19 symptoms.  They recommend acetaminophen instead.

Stay Healthy and Strong