Do supplements really help fight against COVID-19?

 Do supplements really help fight 

against

COVID-19?

Consumers have long turned to vitamins and herbs to test to safeguard themselves from the disease. This pandemic is no any different especially with headlines that scream that this supplement could prevent from corona virus diseases. It helps to possess celebrity enthusiasts. When US President Trump has been diagnosed with COVID-19, his pill arsenal included vitamin D and zinc. In an Instagram chat with actress Jennifer Garner in September, infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci touted vitamin C and vitamin D that might generally boost the immunity. If you’re deficient in vitamin D that does have an impression on your susceptibility to infection, it might not be recommending vitamin D supplements. But whether over the counter supplements can actually prevent, or perhaps treat, COVID-19, isn't clear. Since the COVID-19 disease is so new, researchers have not  had much time for the type of large experiments that provide the best answers. Some studies have checked out outcomes of patients who routinely take certain supplements and found some promising hints. But so far there’s little data from the kinds of scientifically rigorous experiments that give doctors confidence when recommending supplements.

Zinc, Vitamin D  and Vitamin C

The Zinc is a mineral found in cells all over the body and is found naturally in certain meats, beans and oysters. It plays several supportive roles in the immunity, which is why zinc lozenges are always hot sellers in cold and flu season. Zinc also helps with cellular division and growth.
Studies of using zinc for colds which are frequently caused by corona viruses suggest that using a supplement right after symptoms start might make them go away quicker. Clinical test from researchers in Finland and the United Kingdom, published in January in BMJ Open didn't find any value for zinc lozenges for the treatment of colds. Some researchers have theorized that inconsistence in data for colds may be explained by varying amounts of zinc released in several lozenges.
The mineral is promising enough that it had been added to some early studies of hydroxyl-chloroquine, a drug tested early in the pandemic that can’t prevent or treat COVID-19.
In July, researchers from Aachen University in Germany wrote in Frontiers of Immunology that current evidence strongly suggests great benefits of zinc supplementation supported observing similar infections including SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), another disease caused by a corona virus. Studies suggest that giving zinc reduces the risk for death from a pneumonia infection. The researchers cite evidence that zinc might help prevent the virus from entering the body and help slow the virus’s replication when it does.
In another review based on circumstantial evidence published in Advances in Integrative Medicine also concluded that zinc could be helpful in people who are deficient.

This vitamin D is termed the sunshine vitamin because the body makes it naturally in the presence of ultraviolet light, vitamin D is one among the most heavily studied. Certain foods including fish and fortified milk product, also are high in the vitamin.
Vitamin D may be a hormone building block that helps strengthen the system.
British Medical Journal2017 published a meta-analysis that suggested a daily vitamin D supplement might help prevent respiratory infections, particularly in people that are deficient within the vitamin. But one key word here is deficient. That risk is highest during dark winters at high latitudes and among people with more color their skin, melanin, a pigment that’s higher in darker skin, inhibits the assembly of vitamin D.
“If you've got enough vitamin D in your body, the evidence doesn’t pile up to mention that giving you more will make a true difference,” says Susan Lanham-New, head of the Nutritional Sciences Department at the University of Surrey in England. Taking an excessive amount of it can create new health issues, stressing certain internal organs and leading to a dangerously high calcium build-up in the blood. The recommended daily allowance for adults is 600 to 800 International Units per day, and therefore the upper limit is considered to be 4,000 IUs per day.
Few studies have looked directly at whether vitamin D makes a difference in COVID.
In May, in the BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, Lanham-New and her colleagues published a summary of existing evidence and concluded that there’s merely enough to recommend vitamin D to assist with COVID-19 prevention for people who are deficient. That paper made inferences from how vitamin D works against other respiratory tract infections and immune health.
More than a dozen studies are now testing vitamin D directly for prevention and treatment, including a large one led by JoAnn Manson, a leading expert on vitamin D . An epidemiologist and preventive medicine physician at Harvard school of medicine and Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. That study will analyze if vitamin D can affect the course of a COVID-19 infection. The trial aims to recruit 2,700 people across the United States of America with newly diagnosed infections, along with their close household contacts. The goal is to find whether newly diagnosed people given high doses of vitamin D , 3,200 IU per day, are less likely than people that get a placebo to experience severe symptoms and need hospitalization. “The biological plausibility for a benefit in COVID-19 is compelling,” she says, given the nutrient’s theoretical ability to impede the severe inflammatory reaction which will follow COVID-19 infection. However the evidence isn't conclusive at this point.

The vitamin C is additionally called L-ascorbic acid. it has a long list of roles in the body. It is found naturally in fruits and vegetables, especially citrus, peppers and tomatoes.
It is a potent antioxidant that’s important for a healthy system and preventing inflammation.
It is cautioned that the information on vitamin C are often contradictory. One review from Chinese researchers, published within the Journal of Medical Virology, checked out “What is already known about vitamin C?” and other supplements which may have a role in COVID-19 treatment. Among other encouraging signs, human studies find a lower incidence of pneumonia among people taking vitamin C , suggesting that vitamin C might prevent the susceptibility to lower tract infections under certain conditions.
About a dozen studies are under way or planned to look at whether vitamin C added to corona virus disease treatment helps with symptoms or survival, including Thomas’ study at the Cleveland Clinic.In a review published online in July in Nutrition, researchers from KU Leuven in Belgium concluded that the vitamin may help prevent infection and tamp the damaging inflammatory reaction which will cause severe symptoms, supported what's known about how the nutrient works within the body. While supplements are generally safe, but nothing is harmless. The simplest thanks to avoid infection remains to follow the recommendation of epidemiologists and public health experts: “Wash your hands, wear a mask, stay six feet apart.”

Sources: cnn.com/ everydayhealth.com/ arithritis.org/ mayoclinic.org/ sciencenews.org