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COVID-19: Can vitamin C help boost your immune system?

COVID-19

COVID-19: Can vitamin C help boost your immune system?

COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It happened in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and spread globally, resulting in an ongoing pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.

Thus, it continued to spread and a vaccine is urgent for immunization and a cure. Meanwhile, waiting for the production of vaccine done, taking precautions action is considered the best approach.

This disease is asymptomatic and the severity of covid-19 may lead to severe respiratory tract infections and become deadly.

Furthermore, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these factors related to immunity such as age and underlying conditions determine the risk of infection.

Therefore, individuals who are at higher risk of having covid-19 complications is a person that having a pre-existing illness like type 2 diabetes, liver disease, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory issues.

It also increases with age as the general immunity reduces when you getting older.

Besides, immune factors play a major role to protect our bodies, with this variety factor which indicates the influence the severity of the disease.

Does Vitamin C help boost your immunity and keep you from COVID-19-free?

Not exactly!  It strengthens your immune system, but there is no concrete evidence that it can treat or prevent the disease caused by a SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, our body still needs vitamins to boost the immune system

Similarly, no evidence said that vitamin C supplements can help to prevent COVID-19, “Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee, told New York Times Parenting”.

“If there’s going to be an advantage, it’s going to be very modest,” Schaffner said.

Picture of Vitamin C

Vitamin C

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin that has immune-boosting micronutrients and it is relatively easy to get such as can be found in a variety of fruits and vegetables.

Hence, low vitamin C levels are also resulting in many health problems such as poor immunity, bleeding gums, and tooth loss.

Since your body cannot produce vitamin C, it’s important to include essential nutrients in your daily diet.

Humans cannot produce vitamin C on their own, because they don’t have the specific enzyme needed. Hence, we need to get it from an exogenous source which is food that includes essential nutrients in daily diet.

In addition, vitamin C plays a role in maintaining the immune system comprehensively through its antioxidant ability to protects against damage induced by oxidative stress, collagen synthesis, or directly strengthens immune cells in the fight against infection.

 It also helps prevent the common cold.

However, you can purchase the vitamin C supplement at the pharmaceutical wholesaler if you want in a bulk quantity such as mayflax

How much your body need Vitamin C per day?

The recommended daily dosage of vitamin C follow by age and gender. As per the National Institutes of Health, the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for vitamin C are as follows:

AgeMaleFemalePregnancyLactation
0–6 months40 mg40 mg
7–12 months50 mg50 mg
1–3 years15 mg15 mg
4–8 years25 mg25 mg
9–13 years45 mg45 mg
14–18 years75 mg65 mg80 mg115 mg
19+ years90 mg75 mg85 mg120 mg

Note: Individuals who smoke need more doses than non-smokers needed, which is add 35 mg per day.

Here, have five clinical stages of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) :

Table of Stages Covid-19

Figure 1: Covid-19 treatment stratification in a Malaysian public hospital setting.

Can we consume vitamin C too much ?

Vitamin C is water-soluble, meaning it absorbs and passes through your body faster. Besides that, vitamin C is eliminated when you urinate.

Taking more than 2000 milligrams per day of vitamin C can lead to unpleasant side effects such as:-

  • Stomach pain
  • Nausea
  • Diarrhoea
  • Vomiting
  • Heartburn
  • Headache
  • Insomnia

Other food sources that are high in Vitamin C

Foods rich in vitamin C include :-

  • Oranges and orange juice
  • Grapefruits
  • Strawberries
  • Kiwis
  • Broccoli
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Spinach
  • Kale
  • Red and green peppers
  • Potatoes

Immune booster to maintain body health

 There are 6 immune boosters to help you to maintain a healthy body other than vitamin C :-

Vitamin A (Beta Carotene): This vitamin helps the health of your intestines and respiratory system. Foods rich in vitamin A include carrots, sweet potato, spinach, broccoli, and red bell peppers, egg yolk, butter, milk, cheese, etc.

Picture of carrots

Vitamin E: Vitamin E can be a cancer prevention agent preventing cells from oxidative harm from free radicals. These nutrients also can neutralization of free radicals by working as an antioxidant such as vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, and avocado.

Picture of avocado

Zinc: There are many zinc-dependent enzymes in our body and their deficiency is associated with immune dysfunction. Zinc-rich foods such as beans, seeds, nuts, meat, poultry, some shellfish, legumes, whole grains, and fortified cereals.

Picture of shellfish

Selenium: Selenium is another body’s antioxidant system, that ensures the body against oxidative pressure. It a mineral that helps certain immune cells function at their best. For examples, seafood, meat, whole grains, dairy, fruits and vegetables.

Picture of whole grains

Probiotics: The function of probiotics to helps the gut to become a healthy gut because it is made up of good bacteria that help keep your body healthy and working well. Moreover, not only that, probiotics can contribute to immune function.

Picture of healthy gut

Protein: Specific amino acids can be found in protein. There are essential for T-cell function, which are cells that protect the body from pathogens. For instance, meats, poultry, seafood, eggs, beans, nuts, and all seeds which contain a lot of protein.

Picture of ham

These nutrients are proven to help your body’s immune system function most efficiently and effectively, but if you eat too much, it can be harmful.  Thus, eat these nutrients in moderation and do not overeat.

Can taking vitamin C help to prevent COVID-19?

Frankly, without a vaccine, it is important to find ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Again, there are many things about this virus that we still do not know because viruses keep changes through mutation, and new variants of a virus are expected to occur over time. Sometimes new variants emerge and disappear. 

Right now, vitamin C is one of the few vitamins that your body needs to do its best. Getting enough vitamins and nutrients in your diet can help in strengthening your immune system, which also can possibly help you prevent this virus.

There is nothing wrong with taking vitamin C as part of your COVID-19 prevention plan, but no evidence it is true! There is a lot of ongoing research with positive results on the use of vitamin C as a treatment.

However, there is not enough information and evidence to know for sure whether it is effective against COVID-19.

Ways to prevent COVID-19

Furthermore,  have other ways can help to prevent the covid-19 spread. Now, you can follow easy tips to add to your “new normal” as a daily routine :-

Diagram How to avoid covid
  1. Wash your hands for 20 seconds.
  2. Apply hand sanitizer
  3. Wear a mask
  4. Social Distance
  5. Stay at home
  6. Disinfect or sanitize all the things
  7. Try not to touch your face or mouth.

Vitamin C, ascorbic acid, boost, immune system, immunity, coronavirus, virus, mutation, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2,  pathogens, global pendemic, pandemic, immunization, vaccine, anti-vial, respiratory tract, infections, asymptomatic, infection, health, healthy, micronutrients, nutrients, fruits, vegetables, enzyme, antioxidant, oxidative stress, pregnancy, lactation, doses, clinical stages, side effects, food rich, immune boosters, tips, new normal, routine.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Raihan Ridzuan

Raihan Ridzuan , Bachelor of Science (Hons) Pharmacology, is  Customer Relationship Executive of Mayflax , one of the nation’s leading healthcare and marketing company.

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No adverse CV outcomes and excess risks of death from Febuxostat

Cr. Halacious

Source from MIMS.com

According to the results of a meta-analysis, the use of febuxostat does not appear to come with an increased hazard of mortality or adverse cardiovascular (CV) outcomes, for the treatment of patients with gout and hyperuricemia.

Data from 15 randomized controlled trials were collected by researchers and contributed to a total of 16,070 participants. The proportion of patients with hypertension varied between 27.7 percent and 100.0 percent, while those with diabetes ranged from 6.9 percent to 100.0 percent.

A median follow-up of 6.4 months were used across the trials, and the use of febuxostat vs control (allopurinol or placebo) did not result in a significant increase in the risk of CV mortality and all-cause mortality.

The same was true for adverse CV outcomes, as follows: major adverse CV events (risk difference [RD] 1.40 percent), myocardial infarction (RD, -0.06 percent), stroke (RD, 0.10 percent), or new-onset hypertension (RD, 1.58 percent).

Among patients with existing CV disease, the findings were consistent and the test (Egger’s regression test) did not detect significant publication bias.

The evidence were limited by the presence of low to moderate certainty, the researchers said. Recommendations of evaluating CV events and mortality as an outcome were stated by the researchers, as well as defining major adverse CV events, and comparing the outcomes among different doses of febuxostat over a longer follow-up duration in future trials.

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Differences between anxiety attacks and panic attacks

Cr. Victor Rodvang

Source from my.clevelandclinic.org

People have been using the terms “anxiety attack” and “panic attack” correspondingly, when in fact, they are two slightly different medical conditions.

A breakdown:

Anxiety is typical and although it is unpleasant, it helps motivate and protect individuals from threats.

Anxiety disorders comes in many forms and people usually respond to non-threatening things with outsized fear and dread.

Anxiety attacks is just another term for a panic attack.

Panic attacks occurs without warning and are intense attacks of fear and anxiety. It is usually harmless and last for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Panic disorder occurs when an individual has repeated panic attacks and it is also a type of anxiety disorder.

Panic attack symptoms

  • A feeling that what is happening around them is not real
  • Chest pain or discomfort
  • Chills or overheating
  • Dizziness
  • Fear of perhaps that they are dying or going crazy
  • Feeling that they might be choking
  • Increased heart rate
  • Nausea
  • Numbness
  • Sweating
  • Trembling or shaking

How to deal with panic attacks

  1. Labeling it. When panic attack happens, individual who are experiencing it often thinks that they are having a heart attack or losing their mind. It is advised to assure themselves that what is happening to them won’t kill them and that it will end.
  2. Keeping track. Note the attacks and when and where they happened, how long the duration was and things that might have triggered it.
  3. Breathe. Numerous claims from people of various backgrounds said that deep breathing exercises helps. It turns down the body’s panic response, helping the breath and heart rate to return back to normal.
  4. Distract the mind from focusing about the panic attacks. Do other things that helps. For example, smell something pleasant or watching a funny TV show.
  5. Getting help. Mental health professionals can help by using a Jedi mind trick, known as cognitive restructuring.

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Easy treatment for headaches

Cr. Adrian Swancar

Source from Healthline.com

Headache is defined as a pain arising from the head or upper neck of the body. The pain originates from the tissues and structures that surround the skull or the brain because the brain itself has no nerves that give rise to the sensation of pain (pain fibers). Several types of headaches exist, with tension headaches being the most common. Cluster headaches are painful and happen in groups or “clusters,” while migraines are a moderate-to-severe type of headache.

Keeping hydrate : The body need certain amount of fluid for it to properly function and by drinking too little, it may lead you to develop a headache. Researchers have found that the common cause of migraines and tension headaches mostly come from chronic dehydration. This can be relieved by drinking enough water which shown to relieve symptoms in dehydrated individuals within 30 minutes to three hours –  depending on their state.

Cr. LuAnn Hunt

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Taking magnesium : A study suggests that treatment with 600mg of oral magnesium citrate per day helps in reducing the frequency and severity of migraine headaches. Headaches could be cured with prescribed medicines and can be prevented with consuming food that have high content of magnesium such as pumpkin seed, broccoli and certain amount of beans.

Limiting alcohol intake : Evidence shown that alcohol can trigger migraines in about one-third of individuals who experience frequent headaches. It also cause tension and cluster headaches in many people. Alcohol is a vasodilator, which widens blood vessels and allows more flow of the blood which may cause headaches in some people. The body could lose fluids and electrolytes from frequent urination as alcohol also acts as a diuretic which can cause or worsen headaches.

Cr. Giovanna Gomes

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Getting enough sleep : Sleeping less than you required can be detrimental to your health and may even cause headaches in some people. It is found that people who has sleep deprivation had more frequent and severe headaches but getting too much sleep has also been shown to trigger headaches. It is advised to have a minimum of 6 hours sleep a day, depending on the individual.

Practice yoga : One of the ways to relieve stress and improve your overall quality of life would be relaxing with yoga. A study was conducted and it showed that the effects of yoga therapy on 60 people with chronic migraines were reduced more than those who received conventional care alone.

Cr. Kiki Vega

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Having caffeinated liquid : Drinking beverages with caffeine such as tea or coffee may provide relief for a headache. It improves mood, increases alertness and constricts blood vessels. It also helps increase the effectiveness of common medications like acetaminophen and ibuprofen which are used to treat headaches with mindful caffeine intake.

Exercise : Increasing your activity level is said  to be one of the simplest ways in reducing headaches. A study which involved 91 people in 40 minutes of indoor cycling, three times a week was effective in reducing headache frequency than practicing relaxation techniques.

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Cr. Dominik Martin

Sip some ginger tea : Ginger root has many beneficial compounds, including antioxidants and anti-inflammatory substances and they also helps reducing nausea and vomiting, which usually are the common symptoms associated with severe headaches.

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Women with recurrent pregnancy loss could reduce their stress with emotion-focused strategies

Cr. Matteo Di iorio

Source from MIMS.com

According to the data presented at ESHRE 2020, perceived stress in women who had recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) could be reduced by meditation and mindfulness interventions.

Karen Kirchheiner from Hdidovre Hospital in Denmark, stated that studies have shown perceived stress and moderate-to-severe depression are more prevalent in women with RPL than other women trying to conceive.

“A 7-week meditation and mindfulness programme significantly reduced perceived stress [vs] a standard supportive care programme for women with RPL,” she said.

The researchers in the study randomized 76 women, 1:1 to receive supportive care alone or with a 7-week meditation and mindfulness programme facilitated by an authorized instructor. Daily guided audio of meditation for 10-20 minutes were also instructed for the women in the intervention arm while women in the control arm were instructed against meditation; 63 women completed the study.

Mean perceived stress significantly dropped from baseline in both the intervention and the control arms at 7 weeks with intervention outweighed the control protocol in terms of perceived stress reduction for between-group comparison.

The between-group difference was not significant as the perceived stress levels remained low in both intervention and control arms at 12 months vs baseline.

Women in the intervention arm had a significant reduction in personal stress from baseline, which were based on COMPI-FPSS scores at week 7. No significant differences were seen in the other two domains despite the reduced scores.

Consistent numerical reductions were seen across all COMPI-FPSS domains with the intervention protocol at 12 months, 9.2 to 8.7 points, and 7.9 to 7.6 points with only the social domain score reduction was statistically significant.

At week 7, depression was reported at baseline, dropping to none for two women in the intervention and at 12 months, only one had depression. However, these reductions did not equate to statistical significance.

Kirchheiner stated that there are no any significant decrease in depression in all three timelines and underlined that the study was not powered to detect differences in Major Depression Index (MDI).

“[Nevertheless, our studies suggest that] guided self-administered meditations could be a useful tool in the care for women experiencing RPL …. We now have a documented tool to reduce perceived stress. The question now is how to implement this in our clinical practice,” she concluded.

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Facing the pandemic with a mental health : Students are struggling

Cr. Sam Balye

Source from WebMD.com

College life could be both stressful and demanding and from that, anxiety, depression and inactive lifestyles are actually common among students. Now with the pandemic of COVID-19 happening worldwide, a new study might have found that the mental-health issues could be escalated and turn for the worst.

Researchers at Dartmouth College determined that the coronavirus pandemic had an immediate impact on the mental health of this particular undergraduate group of 200 students, using a mix of smartphone data and online surveys.

The study involved students who were participating in a research program tracking mental health at the New Hampshire university with Spikes of depression and anxiety were reported at the beginning of the pandemic in early March, just as the school pushed students to leave campus and begin remote learning all by their selves.

The study found out that the students’ overall anxiety and depression levels remained consistently high than in previous years, even if their self-reported anxiety and depression lessened slightly later on in the semester.

Jeremy Huckins, a lecturer at Dartmouth stated that there is a large-scale shift in mental health and behaviour compared to the observed baseline established for the group over previous years.

In addition, the students reported around spring break period in mid-March that their day-to-day lives were dramatically more sedentary than pervious terms.

Huckins suspected that spring break 2020 was stressful and confining for the students in the study and it might be responsible for a large number of college students across the country even though it is usually a period of decreased stress and increased physical activity.

A smartphone app developed at Dartmouth was used by the researchers to calculate sedentary time. It collected information such as number of phone unlocks, phone usage duration and sleep duration from the student volunteers.

Through the app, data on depression and anxiety were also collected using weekly, self-reported questionnaires. The decrease in activity among these students may have been related to lockdown orders implemented at the time.

Huckins also said that when social distancing was recommended by local governments, students were more sedentary and visited fewer locations on any given day. “The impact of COVID-19 extends beyond the virus and its direct impacts. An unresolved question is if mental health and physical activity will continue to degrade over time, or if we will see a recovery, and how long that recovery will take”.

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Study shows that having red meat before exercise does not offer any additional benefits

Cr. Victoria Shes

Source from MIMS.com

A new study has shown that people who are consuming lean red meat in line with current recommendations does not improve muscle mass, strength, nor cognitive functions of healthy community-dwelling older adults undertaking resistance-based exercise training 3 days/week compared to those consuming carbohydrates.

154 random adults aged ≥65 years was picked by the researchers as they participated in a multicomponent 3-day/week resistance-based exercise programme to either a lean red meat group, the exercise plus lean red meat or a control group receiving carbohydrates in the form of one-half cup or rice or pasta or 1 medium potato, the exercise plus carbohydrate control, on training days.

For the primary outcomes in total body lean mass, leg LM, thigh muscle cross-sectional area, leg and back muscle strength, and executive function;  there were no significant differences between-groups in exercise-induced improvements.

There were also no significant differences in improvements for the secondary outcomes of global cognition function, fat mass, physical function measures, or systolic blood pressure.

In terms of arm Lm, gait speed, muscle density, and appendicular LM in the per-protocol analysis, the improvements were greater for the Ex + meat group than the C + Ex group.

At the same time, net improvements in working memory learning after 12 weeks and 24 weeks were greater in the C + Ex group than the Ex + Meat group.

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Bleeding and cardiovascular risks heightens after consumption of NSAIDs

Cr. JESHOOTS.com

Source from MIMS.com

Researchers conducted a study that investigated the risk for cardiovascular and bleeding events according to groups of antithrombotic medications and subtypes of NSAIDs. The first diagnosed MI in the nationwide cohort study was retrieved from 108,232 patients that they have accessed the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database between 2009 and 2013.

Based on their prescribed antithrombotic medications, the patients were divided into groups  with the thromboembolic cardiovascular and clinically relevant bleeding events as the study outcomes.

Concomitant NSAID treatment significantly elevated the risk for cardiovascular events and bleeding events compared with no NSAID treatment over a mean follow-up of 2.3 years. Celecoxib and meloxicam showed the lowest risk of cardiovascular and bleeding events among NSAID subtypes.

The authors stated in their research that although NSAID treatment should be avoided after MI, celecoxib and meloxicam could be considered as alternative options in cases in which NSAID use is unavoidable.

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Lower risks of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes by having more fibres in your diet

Cr. Joanna Kosinka

Source from MIMS.com

A recent study suggests that to reduce the risk of several chronic diseases and mortality, higher consumption of dietary fibres (DF), particularly soluble (SF) and insoluble fibres (IF) from fruits.

The researchers sought to examine the association of intake of DFs of different types (total DF, SF and IF) and from various sources with the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVDs), cancer, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and mortality in the large-scale NutriNet-Santé prospective cohort.

107,377 participants were included in the cohort study where the usual DF intake was estimated from validated repeated 24-h dietary records over the first 2 years following inclusion in the cohort. To assess the associations between sex-specific quintiles of DF intake and the risk of chronic diseases and mortality.

With the increased intake of total DFs, it was found that T2D risk is being significantly decreased and also correlated with a lower risk of breast cancer. It is also stated that intake from fruits led to a reduced risk of several chronic diseases. . For particularly soluble (SFs), they are correlated with a reduced risk of CVD and colorectal cancer, while IFs reduce mortality from cancer or CVDs.

The investigators stated that to involve different types and sources of fibre, further studies are needed and more emphasis should be put on dietary fibres in public health nutrition policies, as DF intake remains below the recommended levels in many countries.

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Erectile health in men gets affected by the functionality of their lungs

Cr. Tim Marshall

Source from MIMS.com

Based on recent study, erectile dysfunction (ED) appears to correlate with an impaired forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) out of other classic risk factors.

Free of a history of diabetes, cardiovascular or kidney diseases, 331 men were under supervision and assessment using the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) resulted into the main outcome of ED. Through mini-spirometry, FEV1 was measured under the guidance of a study nurse.

For normal predicted FEV1 values, sixty-six percent of the participants had it while 23 percent and 11 percent had mild and moderate impairments. Five patients had a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), while four had a history of asthma with fifty-nine participants had moderate-to-severe ED.

A link between the impaired predicted FEV1 and moderate-to-severe ED were uncovered by researchers.

The risk of ED was increased by almost fivefold for men with FEV1, which is between 1.0-2.0 L/s. For those with predicted FEV1, the corresponding risk was over four times as high.

The researchers stated that the biological background can only be hypothesized since it is the first study to report the association between decreased pulmonary function and ED in apparently healthy men. Be that as it may, the findings underscore the importance of monitoring for sexual and erectile health in men with weak lung function.

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