A new study says that nearly a third of coronavirus cases could have been avoided if people had followed a healthy diet that included plenty of fruits and vegetables, while vaccination and wearing a mask in closed and crowded spaces are critical. Gut , indicates that eating properly may reduce the risk of infection with corona, the Jerusalem Post reports.
The relationship of the diet to Corona
The study, led by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, showed that people who followed a healthy diet had a 9% lower risk of contracting the virus compared to people who followed a poor diet, and those who ate healthy food were 41% less likely to develop severe symptoms..
Although doctors have stated that metabolic conditions including obesity and type 2 diabetes can cause serious complications of the coronavirus, this study is among the first to add nutrition to the equation..
Jordi Marino, the study’s editor and an instructor at Harvard Medical School, said that previous studies have indicated that poor nutrition is a common feature among groups that have been disproportionately affected by the epidemic, but data on the link between diet and the risk of infection with the virus and the emergence of severe symptoms are lacking.
The team analyzed data collected from 592,571 people from the US and UK between March and December 2020. Each participant completed a survey of their eating habits, in which study authors scored people’s “diet quality”, focusing on fruit and vegetable consumption, during the follow-up period. , 31,831 participants contracted coronavirus The researchers also noted a cumulative relationship between malnutrition, increased socio-economic deprivation and coronavirus risk. People who live in slums and who rely heavily on fast food are more likely to contract the virus..
The study suggests that nearly a third of cases of the virus could have been avoided if one of these two conditions were not present, researchers called for making healthy plant-based foods more available and affordable to help end the epidemic..