Notes, Books, and Videos: Poor Nutrition and the Pandemic

Notes below from Facebook posts on nutrition, public health, and the pandemic. Most Americans have poor metabolic health from poor nutrition (study finds only 1 in 8 are metabolically healthy). Links below to articles, studies, videos, and discussions of how the food we eat improves or worsens metabolic health. Plus, the pandemic is tied to majorities with poor metabolic health, who are far more likely to suffer severe or critical infections. 

• Global pandemics interconnected — obesity, impaired metabolic health and COVID-19 (Nature Reviews Endocrinology, January 21, 2021)

Obesity and impaired metabolic health are established risk factors for the non-communicable diseases (NCDs) type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, otherwise known as metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). With the worldwide spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), obesity and impaired metabolic health also emerged as important determinants of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Furthermore, novel findings indicate that specifically visceral obesity and characteristics of impaired metabolic health such as hyperglycaemia, hypertension and subclinical inflammation are associated with a high risk of severe COVID-19.

Past posts here on gadgets to measure body fat.

For $20 a FitIndex scale will measure visceral fat (a tape measure works too, but what fun is that?) Visceral, or abdominal fat, is a measure of poor metabolic health. 

• Many recent studies find new and effective antiviral treatments: Scientists uncover potential antiviral treatment for COVID-19 (EurekaAlert/AAAS, February 2, 2021)

In this ground-breaking study, the team of experts found that the plant-derived antiviral, at small doses, triggers a highly effective broad-spectrum host-centred antiviral innate immune response against three major types of human respiratory viruses – including Covid-19.

* Mayo Clinic using new treatment for COVID-19 patients (WEAU News, February 11, 2021) and
• Reflecting on first year of COVID-19 care (Mayo Clinic Health System, February 10, 2021)

Currently, there are three primary therapies used to treat COVID-19 in the U.S. One therapy being used is monoclonal antibodies. These laboratory-made proteins mimic the immune system’s ability to fight off harmful antigens, and are designed to block the virus’ attachment and entry into human cells.

“The No. 1 lesson learned is that antibodies are effective. This is not true for all viruses,” says Dr. Badley. “The fact that antibody-mediated control works for COVID is remarkably lucky, and offers both therapeutic and preventive measures.”

• State regulations slow treatment and vaccine development, availability, and distribution. Some regulations seem more about nationalism than safety: Nationalism, prejudice, and FDA regulation (EconLib, January 28, 2021)

• The Virus Lessons We’re Getting Wrong (WSJ February 5, 2021)
Challenge trials would have worked far better and faster. Let volunteers try and test vaccines.

Not only would shots have gotten into millions of arms sooner. The risks of such an approach would have been merely substantial and the potential benefits off-the-charts, measured in trillions of dollars and thousands of lives saved.

And…

It’s absurd that only now the CDC, very quietly, has begun recognizing, as it does with the flu, most cases go unreported. As of Dec. 31, when the media was highlighting 19.7 million “confirmed” cases, the CDC now estimates 83 million were infected.

• Appropriate use of PCR needed for a focused response to the pandemic (The Hill, January 29, 2021)

Regarding infectiousness, the PCR test is not designed to identify active infectious disease but rather genetic material (dead, alive or partial) from the virus. PCR amplifies this material in samples to find traces of COVID-19, so while it often identifies people with active, infectious disease, it can also indicate people as “positive” erroneously. Dead COVID-19 RNA in the nose or mouth of someone who was never sick could create a positive PCR result. Recovered patients who test negative and are non-infectious can still come up positive repeatedly in the following months. These are neither new cases nor infectious ones needing quarantine but could be incorrectly counted as such.

• Smartphone-Based COVID-19 Test Developed That Delivers Results in 10 Minutes (SciTechDaily, February 9, 2021)

The weird world inside: our mystery immune system.
Look inside free on Amazon! Overview of research on interactions of immune system and microbiome, An Epidemic of Absence and I Contain Multitudes, plus key popular nutrition and public health books, The Big Fat Surprise and Gary Taubes page, as well as Taubes’ latest: The Case for Keto.

Before Covid the Center for Disease Control (CDC) focused on the “epidemic” of vaping. CDC was started by Robert Woodruff and Coca-Cola, so maybe no surprise is slow to condemn sugar and corn syrup. An Epidemic of Absence says our immune systems tuned for the parasites, bacteria, virus of human history, are now too sensitive, resulting in autoimmune diseases. I Contain Multitudes reports on research about immune systems interactions with gut microbiome (and visa versa). The Big Fat Surprise and The Case for Keto say CDC/USDA food pyramid/plate low-fat diets caused the modern obesity/diabetes epidemic.

For more on this research on nutrition, poor metabolic health, and federal public health policies and programs, these presentations are helpful:

• Medical Trial: Cheap Asthma Inhalers 90% Reduction in Severe Covid Symptoms

…researchers investigating why asthma sufferers were “under-represented” in severe Covid cases have completed a clinical trial of Budesonide asthma inhalers. According to researchers the randomised trial was stopped early, because the results were so remarkable, the researchers did not believe it ethical to deny treatment to placebo patients.

Earlier Economic Thinking posts on nutrition, public health, pandemic, and lockdowns.