Could zinc reduce mortality in COVID-19 cases?

Does Zinc Supplementation Reduce Mortality in COVID-19 Patient? It is on this premise that a work team made up of professionals from the Hospital del Mar de Barcelona and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) tried to answer during a virtual meeting organized between this academic entity and the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV).

The study presented scientist, still without peer review, concludes that there is a relationship between zinc deficiency and the severity of COVID-19Since cells were infected with this virus in the laboratory and the less zinc they had, the more they replicated. It means that “the virus is much more comfortable when there is a zinc deficiency ”, explains the doctor Robert Guerri, COVID-19 hospitalization coordinator Hospital del Mar in Barcelona and project director with the researcher Ruben Vicente, of the group of Biophysics of the Pompeu Fabra Immune System (UPF).

These new results would correct a past vision which was reflected in a study published in the specialized journal Journal of the American Medical Association last February carried out by a working group of Cleveland Clinic Heart and Vascular Institute, Ohio. In it, although she acknowledges her reputation for boosting the powers of her immune system, Vitamin C and zinc supplements have been reported to not help COVID-19 patients recover from their illness.

“Give one or the other, or a combination of both, to patients It did not significantly reduce the severity or duration of your COVID-19 symptoms. Zinc it is important for immune function and vitamin C is an antioxidant that has been shown to stimulate the immune system ”, specialists said in the February document. The differences between this material and the report just presented, in addition to the subsequent approvals and revisions required by that proposed in Barcelona, ​​differ in the methodology, since that carried out by the Ohio science team was based on a cohort of patients while that carried out by Barcelona health professionals was reduced to laboratory tests. On this road then These first preliminary results from the laboratory investigation would indicate the opposite of what has been published from the Ohio cohort.

“Zinc is obtained through food -Explain Cured– What oysters, red meat, poultry, legumes, eggs, nuts, fruits and vegetables and dairy products. A correct daily intake would be 11 milligrams for men and eight for women.”.

We calculate that between a 10 and 30% of the world’s population is deficient in zinc. This is due to a poor diet, little variety and based on cereals. These are worrying data if we take into account the fact that a 4 and 5% of infant mortality is associated with zinc deficiency, mainly causing respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases.

Regarding its antiviral role, zinc modulates the response of the immune system and regulates the phenomenon of activation of T and B lymphocytes, that destroy infected cells that make antibodies. “Zinc deficiency produces an exaggerated immune system response that increases cytokine release and inflammation. And the inflammation reduces the levels of circulating zinc, which sets in motion a loop that can end up damaging the individual, ”explains the UPF researcher.

Parallel, entry of zinc into cells is postulated as an antiviral agent because it can stop the multiplication of viruses. There is already a scientific literature which shows that a massive influx of zinc is able to stop or inhibit the phenomenon of replication of certain viruses, as well as laboratory tests which demonstrate this fact in infections with coronavirus, rhinovirus, herpes and hepatitis.

Regarding a possible treatment for the COVID-19 patient, The study recalls that the White House published in October the treatment followed by former President Donald Trump to fight coronavirus disease, a treatment that included zinc. “In Anglo-Saxon countries, giving zinc supplemented treatments to patients with viral respiratory infections is very common and we can say that it was prescribed in a generalized manner during the pandemic,” he concludes. Cured.

Medical monitoring of supplementation is essential because it must be careful and of limited duration. Maintained for long periods, it generates copper deficiency.

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