Good Morning - Coronavirus and Immune System

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How to protect yourself from coronavirus? The key to good health is a strong immune system.  If we have a weakened immune system we are more susceptible to colds, flu and other problems. Germs are everywhere and being exposed to them is a natural part of life. Every one of these flu pathogens originates in the animal kingdom. The more animals we concentrate in small spaces the more these contagions spread and become stronger. The solution is to Go Vegan - We must continue to educate that by eating a whole food plant based vegan diet is where we build immunity.

Natural Ways to Strengthen Your Immunity

Building a strong immune system is your best defense against infectious illness and disease.  Your immune health depends on the lifestyle choices you make every day. By supporting your body's own natural ability to defend itself against pathogens, you will not only have resistance to colds and flus but to other infectious illness that comes your way. 

Feeding your body certain foods may help keep your immune system strong. If you're looking for ways to prevent winter colds and the flu, your first step should be a visit to your local grocery store. Plan your meals to include these 15 powerful immune system boosters.

citrus

Most people turn to vitamin C after they've caught a cold. That’s because it helps build up your immune system. Vitamin C is thought to increase the production of white blood cells. These are key to fighting infections.

Popular citrus fruits include:

  • grapefruit
  • oranges
  • tangerines
  • lemons
  • limes
  • clementines

Because your body doesn't produce or store it, you need daily vitamin C for continued health. Almost all citrus fruits are high in vitamin C. With such a variety to choose from, it's easy to add a squeeze of this vitamin to any meal.

red bell pepper

If you think citrus fruits have the most vitamin C of any fruit or vegetable, think again. Ounce for ounce, red bell peppers contain twice as much vitamin C as citrus. They’re also a rich source of beta carotene. Besides boosting your immune system, vitamin C may help maintain healthy skin. Beta carotene helps keep your eyes and skin healthy.

broccoli

Broccoli is supercharged with vitamins and minerals. Packed with vitamins A, C, and E, as well as many other antioxidants and fiber, broccoli is one of the healthiest vegetables you can put on your table. The key to keeping its power intact is to cook it as little as possible — or better yet, not at all.

garlic

Garlic is found in almost every cuisine in the world. It adds a little zing to food and it's a must-have for your health. Early civilizations recognized its value in fighting infections. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative HealthTrusted Source, garlic may also help lower blood pressure and slow down hardening of the arteries. Garlic’s immune-boosting properties seem to come from a heavy concentration of sulfur-containing compounds, such as allicin.

ginger

Ginger is another ingredient many turn to after getting sick. Ginger may help decrease inflammation, which can help reduce a sore throat and other inflammatory illnesses. Ginger may also help decrease nausea.

While it's used in many sweet desserts, ginger packs some heat in the form of gingerol, a relative of capsaicin. Ginger may help decrease chronic pain and may possess cholesterol-lowering properties, according to recent animal researchTrusted Source.

spinach

Spinach made our list not just because it's rich in vitamin C. It's also packed with numerous antioxidants and beta carotene, which may increase the infection-fighting ability of our immune systems. Similar to broccoli, spinach is healthiest when it’s cooked as little as possible so that it retains its nutrients. However, light cooking enhances its vitamin A and allows other nutrients to be released from oxalic acid.

yogurt

Look for yogurts that have "live and active cultures" printed on the label, like Greek yogurt. These cultures may stimulate your immune system to help fight diseases. Try to get plain yogurts rather than the kinds that are preflavored and loaded with sugar. You can sweeten plain yogurt yourself with healthy fruits and a drizzle of honey instead.

Yogurt can also be a great source of vitamin D, so try to select brands fortified with vitamin D. Vitamin D helps regulate the immune system and is thought to boost our body’s natural defenses against diseases.

almonds

When it comes to preventing and fighting off colds, vitamin E tends to take a backseat to vitamin C. However, vitamin E is key to a healthy immune system. It’s a fat-soluble vitamin, meaning it requires the presence of fat to be absorbed properly. Nuts, such as almonds, are packed with the vitamin and also have healthy fats. A half-cup serving, which is about 46 whole, shelled almonds, provides nearly 100 percent of the recommended daily amount of vitamin E.

turmeric

You may know turmeric as a key ingredient in many curries. But this bright yellow, bitter spice has also been used for years as an anti-inflammatory in treating both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Also, researchTrusted Source shows that high concentrations of curcumin, which gives turmeric its distinctive color, can help decrease exercise-induced muscle damage.

green tea

Both green and black teas are packed with flavonoids, a type of antioxidant. Where green tea really excels is in its levels of epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG, another powerful antioxidant. EGCG has been shown to enhance immune function. The fermentation process black tea goes through destroys a lot of the EGCG. Green tea, on the other hand, is steamed and not fermented, so the EGCG is preserved.

Green tea is also a good source of the amino acid L-theanine. L-theanine may aid in the production of germ-fighting compounds in your T-cells.

papaya

Papaya is another fruit loaded with vitamin C. You can find 224 percent of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C in a single papaya. Papayas also have a digestive enzyme called papain that has anti-inflammatory effects.

Papayas have decent amounts of potassium, B vitamins, and folate, all of which are beneficial to your overall health.

kiwi

Like papayas, kiwis are naturally full of a ton of essential nutrients, including folate, potassium, vitamin K, and vitamin C. Vitamin C boosts white blood cells to fight infection, while kiwi’s other nutrients keep the rest of your body functioning properly.

poultry

When you’re sick, chicken soup is more than just a feel-good food with a placebo effect. It helps improve symptoms of a cold and also helps protect you from getting sick in the first place. Poultry, such as chicken and turkey, is high in vitamin B-6. About 3 ounces of light turkey or chicken meat contains 40 to 50 percent of your daily recommended amount of B-6.

Vitamin B-6 is an important player in many of the chemical reactions that happen in the body. It’s also vital to the formation of new and healthy red blood cells. Stock or broth made by boiling chicken bones contains gelatin, chondroitin, and other nutrients helpful for gut healing and immunity.

sunflower seeds

Sunflower seeds are full of nutrients, including phosphorousmagnesium, and vitamin B-6. They’re also incredibly high in vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant.

Vitamin E is important in regulating and maintaining immune system function. Other foods with high amounts of vitamin E include avocados and dark leafy greens.

shelfish

Shellfish isn’t what jumps to mind for many who are trying to boost their immune system, but some types of shellfish are packed with zinc.

Zinc doesn’t get as much attention as many other vitamins and minerals, but our bodies need it so that our immune cells can function as intended.

Varieties of shellfish that are high in zinc include:

  • crab
  • clams
  • lobster
  • mussels

Keep in mind that you don’t want to have more than the daily recommended amount of zinc in your diet. For adult men, it’s 11 milligrams (mg), and for women, it’s 8 mg. Too much zinc can actually inhibit immune system function.

Variety is the key to proper nutrition. Eating just one of these foods won’t be enough to help fight off the flu, even if you eat it constantly. Pay attention to serving sizes and recommended daily intake so that you don’t get too much of a single vitamin and too little of others.

Eating right is a great start, and there are other things you can do to protect you and your family from the flu, cold, and other illnesses. Start with these flu prevention basics and then read these seven tips for flu-proofing your home. Perhaps most importantly, read up on the flu vaccine and decide whether it’s right for you.


There's No Specific Drug That Kills Coronavirus. But Doctors Have Ways To Treat It

Medical workers in protective suits tend to coronavirus patients at the intensive care unit of a hospital in Wuhan, China.

China Daily via Reuters

Even though the coronavirus disease that has sickened tens of thousands of people in China is new to science, doctors have a pretty good idea about how to treat it. COVID-19, as it is now named, attacks the lungs. Doctors see similar symptoms from other diseases all the time, especially from serious cases of the flu.

There's no specific drug that can kill this virus. So doctors provide what's known as supportive care, says Dr. Laura Evans, a critical care specialist at the University of Washington and a member of the Society of Critical Care Medicine's Leadership Council.

"Supportive care is something we're quite used to," Evans says, "particularly in the intensive care unit environment, because we lack specific therapies for a lot of the things that we deal with in the intensive care unit."

The strategy of supportive care is to do whatever's possible to keep vital organ systems functioning. That means monitoring vitals such as temperature, blood pressure and oxygen levels "and trying to keep those as normal as we can," she says.

Providing oxygen can be critical, particularly for a lung ailment. The method can range from a simple tube in the nostrils (a nasal cannula) to much more aggressive approaches, such as a mechanical ventilator, which involves a breathing tube threaded into a person's airways.

"We're just trying to support their bodies through it while they deal with the infection themselves," she says.

At the end of the day, it's the person's immune system, rather than the doctors, that does the hard work of fighting off an infection. Drugs can help as well, whether it's for blood pressure, heart performance or infection control.

"Sometimes these patients could have bacterial infections along with the viral infections," says Dr. Charles Dela Cruz, a critical care specialist at Yale University's School of Medicine. "They may or may not need antibiotics in certain situations."

He has helped analyze case reports of coronavirus from China. About 80% of COVID-19 cases are comparatively mild and don't require major medical interventions, but the remaining 20% can be quite serious.

Dela Cruz notes that patients who survive a crisis still may have a long road ahead of them.

"They have a lot of consequences of what they've gone through, especially if they're mechanically ventilated for a long time," Dela Cruz says. "And so a lot of them have a harder time to get back to their baseline. It sometimes takes weeks or even months. And there's also a lot of mental health distress."

People who have had a disorienting experience in the ICU may end up with delirium, which can have long-term consequences.

Researchers in China are already testing drugs that target the coronavirus. One is an experimental medication from the United States called remdesivir, which was originally developed by Gilead Sciences to treat Ebola (but has not been approved for any purpose). These drugs stop the virus from replicating but can't undo damage that the virus has caused to a person's body.

Dr. Fred Aoki at the University of Manitoba has studied antiviral drugs in the context of the flu, which has strong parallels to COVID-19. Those drugs are mostly effective within just a day or two of a person developing symptoms — that is, before the virus has had a chance to make someone really sick. They can prevent the virus from doing a lot of damage at that point.

The drugs can also reduce the risk of death in hospitalized patients, Aoki says. "In those cases, anti-influenza drugs will have an effect out to five and six days after onset of illness and will produce a salutary change in the course of the illness."

He says these flu medicines are actually most effective in people who are well but who have been exposed to the virus, say from a member of their household. The drug can actually prevent disease at that point.

Researchers studied this effect during the pandemic flu a decade ago. "These pills would reduce the illness in the other family members by about 70 to 80 percent," he says.

Logistics are the biggest challenge, Aoki says, because if people have to wait for doctors' appointments to get a prescription, they've lost precious time.

But even in the best of circumstances, we should not expect too much from antiviral medications.

"In the case of influenza, where we have approved antiviral therapy, we still see people become very ill and requiring hospitalization or requiring intensive care," says Evans of the University of Washington. "And we know thousands in the U.S. die every year from influenza. So I don't think we should think of an antiviral drug as a magic bullet here."

People will still need supportive care, she says, to buy them time to heal.

Source:: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/11/804862868/theres-no-specific-drug-that-kill-coronavirus-but-doctors-have-ways-to-treat-it


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