University of São Paulo: Type of diet can influence the severity of covid-19

The most recent findings in infectology address the influence of the type of dietary pattern – omnivorous, frequent meat consumption, or plant-based, such as vegetarian – on people’s immune response to infectious diseases. The Instituto do Coração of Hospital das Clínicas (HC) of the Faculty of Medicine of USP (FMUSP) is looking for volunteers for the Pandora Project, to study the relationship between diet and the incidence and evolution of Covid-19 infection.

“In recent decades, there have been studies of associations that plant-based diets are associated with a lower prevalence of diseases with high mortality and morbidity, such as cardiovascular diseases and metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity”, says Julio Cesar Acosta, coordinator of the study and cardiologist at the Instituto do Coração (Incor) at HC-FMUSP, who also developed the CARVOS research project to understand the influence of diet on the genesis of cardiovascular diseases.

Nutrients such as antioxidants and fiber are high in plant-based diets, which also contain lower amounts of saturated fat, according to Acosta. There is a strong hypothesis that in these diets there is better activity of Killer cells, which may mean that they “are putting the individual in a better condition against infectious processes”.