From eNewsletter 4/29/2020
DID YOU KNOW that the FDA is now warning against the use of chloroquine outside of hospitals? There's a simple explanation for this.
The doctors who have used chloroquine successfully in severe COVID-19 patients give supplemental zinc along with it. In patients who do not get supplemental zinc, patients get worse. This is why some study results have been disappointing. Chloroquine acts as an ionophore for zinc. An ionophore is a catalyst for allowing something to easily get into the cell. In the case of chloroquine, it pries open the cell to more efficiently allow zinc in. Once in the cell, zinc not only destroys the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but more importantly, stops it from replicating. However, if zinc is in short supply because of deficiency, or the patient has used up her zinc stores fighting the infection, chloroquine will pry open the cell, but no zinc is available to enter. If this happens, there is no possibility for the patient to improve. One natural substance in our COVID-19 protocol, the bioflavonoid quercetin, acts similarly to chloroquine because it is an ionophore for zinc, as elucidated in a study in Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. The best thing about quercetin is that you don't have to wait until you're sick to use it because it has no side effects!
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
Exercise and SOD
Approximately 80% of confirmed COVID-19 patients have mild symptoms with no need of respiratory support. Researchers in Redox Biology suggest one of the reasons is the enzyme superoxide dismutase (EcSOD), which acts as an antioxidant that hunts down free radicals and protects the body's tissue from disease. Our muscles naturally make EcSOD, but the study adds that its production is increased by cardiovascular exercise. This is why it is paramount to utilize some form of exercise during shelter-at-home. Some of us have a mutation of the gene that makes the EcSOD enzyme (we test for this in our Pure Genomics panel), so it is important to know this. For those with mutations, our first line therapy is supplemental vitamin C. Mental Health Challenges As many states enter their second month of shelter-at-home, it should come as no surprise that an analysis from pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts shows the number of weekly prescriptions for antidepressant, anti-anxiety, and anti-insomnia medications jumped 21%. More than three quarters of them were new prescriptions. This is concerning because these medications can negatively alter your brain chemistry and be very difficult to wean off of. All of us are entering into uncharted waters, but know that there are many non-pharmacologic options available to you. Online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be very helpful. Mindfulness meditation or meditation can be very calming. Of course, exercise should be your first line therapy. Sugar can negatively increase the severity of our moods. Finally, we have numerous supplemental options for natural mood support without the side effects from meds. How Long Will SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Levels Last? An incredible piece in The Scientist by Katarina Zimmer explains it very well. "Ideally, the human antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 would mirror that to measles. A single exposure is enough to generate robust, neutralizing IgG antibodies that circulate in the blood throughout life and provide lifelong protection, Crotty notes. But immune responses to coronaviruses appear to differ. Studies of survivors of the 2003 SARS epidemic suggest that concentrations of neutralizing antibodies lasted for up to three years. Although, a recent yet-to-be-peer-reviewed preprint reports to have found neutralizing antibodies in SARS survivors 17 years after the epidemic. In MERS, the levels of neutralizing antibodies have been observed to fade after three years. For the less deadly, cold-causing coronaviruses, neutralizing antibody levels also fall off in that two-to-three-year range. One 1990 study of fewer than a dozen volunteers found that people exposed twice to the coronavirus 229E developed much milder symptoms compared with people getting exposed the first time, suggesting that re-infection could occur, but with reduced symptoms. Antibody levels for coronaviruses might be fading over time because the antibody-supplying cells 'are not maintained for decades like with other pathogens,' notes Vineet Menachery of the University of Texas Medical Branch in a recent Twitter thread. However, how long those cells or the antibodies they produce persist in the blood is not the best indicator of how long someone is immune to secondary infection, he stresses." This is why the proposed "Immune Passports" some countries are considering will give a false sense of security, as the World Health Organization stated over the weekend. Antibody Test Update The FDA has issued emergency use authorizations (EUA) to only four tests, those marketed by Cellex, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Chembio Diagnostic Systems, and the Mount Sinai Laboratory. For all the other antibody tests on the market that do not have an EUA, you're trusting that the test developer has done a good job in validation. IBD Warning Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who develop COVID-19 should stop taking thiopurines, methotrexate, tofacitinib, and biological therapies during the viral illness, according to a clinical practice update from the American Gastroenterological Association, published in Gastroenterology.
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