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Good News: A Vegan Diet Reduces Severe Covid-19 Symptoms Up To 73 Percent

Vegan Diet and Covid-19

Several New Studies Show Another Benefit of a Plant-Based Diet

A plant-based diet “represents the most cost-effective approach and should be largely promoted and incorporated in everyday practice…This is a booster that is needed at this unprecedented time and that may actually work to mitigate COVID-19.” –European Journal of Clinical Nutrition

A team from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, examined the connection between diet and Covid-19 severity and illness duration. In a survey of 2884 front-line doctors and nurses from six countries between July and September 2020,  participants  provided information regarding their demographics, medical history, lifestyle, Covid-19 symptoms and a detailed food questionnaire. The study was published by the scientific journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health. 

Of the 2884 medical professionals who participated in the survey from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, 568 reported having Covid. Of these 138 had moderate-to-severe symptoms and 430 have very mild-to-mild severity.

Participants who followed plant-based diets had 73 percent lower odds of moderate-to-severe symptoms.

Those who followed low-carb, high protein diets, such as those high in animal-based protein were almost four times more likely to have moderate-to-severe Covid-19 symptoms.

The authors of the study explained that those who followed plant-based diets and consumed more vegetables, fruits, legumes and nuts had a greater supply of important vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that support the immune system and lower the risk of respiratory infections.

The study concluded that plant-based diets “may be considered for protection against severe Covid-19.”

More research

Another study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in the journal Gut examined the benefits of diet regarding Covid-19. The study followed 592,571 participants in the US and the UK from March 2020 to December 2020. The conclusion of this study was that people whose diets were based on a healthy plant-based foods were less likely to get Covid and had a lower risk of severity if it were contracted.

And in a more recent paper, as the Omicron variant continues to cause a record number of infections, a new commentary in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition is calling for people to adopt a plant-based diet, which research shows can help reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 and mortality.

Podcast: What these studies mean for you

Vegan Diet and Covid-19 podcast with Dr. Neal Barnard

Listen to what Dr. Neil Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has to say about these studies in his podcast Plant-Based Diet and COVID-19: What Science Shows 

For further information, read more below:

The studies

News articles on the studies

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