From eNewsletter 7/29/2020
DID YOU KNOW that the FDA is allowing the following qualified health claim regarding consumption of cranberry supplements for reduced risk of recurrent urinary tract infection in healthy women?
"Consuming 500 mg [X capsules/tablets/soft gels] each day of [this identified cranberry dietary supplement] may help reduce the risk of recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) in healthy women. FDA has concluded that there is limited scientific evidence supporting this claim."
Not a ringing endorsement, but an FDA qualified health claim of a supplement (not a drug) always shocks us.
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STAYING SAFE DURING RE-OPENING Continue with extra immune support until summer of 2021. SARS-CoV-2 is not going away anytime soon. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 is not the only virus we fight. There are influenza (flu), norovirus (stomach flu), adenovirus (common cold), and four other coronaviruses (common cold), among others. Prevent and Fight Coronavirus 2.0 is our must-read protocol.
COVID-19 UPDATE
Steve & Bonnie: Here's the latest research you may find fascinating!
Antibodies...The Plot Thickens Remember when we wrote this on July 8th? "Antibody Testing May Not Give a Complete Picture Scientists postulate there may be five ways that render antibody testing useless for some of the population. According to biophysicist Creon Levit, there is a group of people who have recovered from coronavirus, do not exhibit the antibody, but when presented with exposure again, can block it successfully without mounting an immune response. Some immunologists believe these are 'denatured/barriered' individuals. There is also a segment of the population that have innately cleared the coronavirus even though they've never been exposed to the virus before but still may not show antibodies. T-Cells (immune cells) that have adapted to other coronaviruses like common colds similar to SARS-CoV-2 prevent infection but still do not show antibodies. T/B immune cells that are newly adapted can clear coronavirus from the body but may not mount the systems that the antibody tests for. Of course there are also the false negative antibody tests. If confirmed, these five ways would comprise almost 50% of the world's population." A number of studies, each from journals Medrxiv, Science, and Nature, now purport that even if standard antibody tests IgG and IgA are negative, you can still produce other virus-neutralizing immune antibodies, like those mentioned above. This is a very important quote from a July 7th commentary in Nature Reviews in Immunology: "In conclusion, it is now established that SARS-CoV-2 pre-existing immune reactivity exists to some degree in the general population. It is hypothesized, but not yet proven, that this might be due to immunity to common cold coronaviruses. This might have implications for COVID-19 disease severity, herd immunity and vaccine development, which still await to be addressed with actual data." This brings up an important point with regard to reinfection. We believe that over the next few months, research will confirm that reinfection with COVID-19 can happen. Even if short-term antibodies such as IgA and IgG wane, it is helpful to know there are myriad ways our immune system fights, so reinfection won't be as pernicious. Blood Type Tally? 4 For, 1 Against So far, 4 studies find a direct connection to blood type O's being more protected, blood type A's being the least protected, and blood type B's and blood type AB's in between. One study found no connection to COVID severity but still found that blood type A's tested positive more than the other blood types. D3 Does It Again A new study from Medrxiv found vitamin D supplementation helped reduce the risk for acute respiratory infections. In yet another study from Medrxiv, vitamin D was one of the top of all drugs, as well as nutrients, to tamp down hyper-inflammation from severe COVID-19. In yet another population-based study, Israel is the latest country to publish results connecting low vitamin D levels with increased risk of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization. Researchers in the FEBS Journal study followed 14,000 people over 5 months during the pandemic and found that those with levels lower than 30 mg/mL had a much higher risk of infection and hospitalization, especially in those over 50 years of age. That is now 8 countries that have published studies on the D3/COVID/population connection, not to mention countless more studies on its efficacy. Even though Dr. Fauci said a few years ago that he takes vitamin D3, there has not been a word about it from him or any public health mouthpiece in the US. Diet and COVID-19 Death Rates A study in Clinical and Translational Allergy is the one of the first to look at COVID death rate and its association to diet. It seems that some foods largely used in countries with low death rates may reduce angiotensin-converting enzyme activity or are antioxidants. It is crucial to understand diet and angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) levels in populations with different COVID-19 death rates since dietary interventions may be of great benefit. Lifestyle Medicine Prophylaxis An editorial from American Journal of Health Promotion is called "Making the Case for 'COVID-19 Prophylaxis' With Lifestyle Medicine." Let's put it this way, the authors make a much better case than anyone has for a drug or vaccine to this point! Nutrients for Coronavirus Results from a study in Archives of Physiology and Biochemistry states: "Some nutrients are actively involved in the proper functioning and strengthening of the human immune system against viral infections including dietary protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin B1, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, iron, zinc, and selenium. Few studies were done on the effect of dietary components on prevention of COVID-19, but supplementation with these nutrients may be effective in improving the health status of patients with viral infections. Following a balanced diet and supplementation with proper nutrients may play a vital role in prevention, treatment, and management of COVID-19." Probiotics Help Stem the Tide A study from Frontiers in Medicine found that a specific probiotic formulation containing lactobacilli and bifidobacterium showed a significant ameliorating impact on the clinical conditions of hospitalized patients positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. These results also stress the importance of optimizing the gut-lung axis in controlling the COVID-19 disease.
CELIAC/GLUTEN INTOLERANCE UPDATE
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