אינדקס
President Trump taking zinc (WSJ)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-ta...
Low zinc levels at clinical admission associates with poor outcomes in COVID-19, (11th October)
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.11...
Zinc balances immune responses and also has a proven direct antiviral action against some viruses.
Zinc deficiency (ZD) is a common condition in elderly and individuals with chronic diseases
Increased intracellular zinc concentrations efficiently impair replication
Resulting in a lower number of viruses
Retrospective analysis
Patients admitted in Barcelona
15th March to 30th April 2020
Clinical severity of COVID-19 and PMH assessed
Fasting plasma zinc levels measured routinely at admission
N = 611
Mean age, 63 years
Male 332, (55%)
Total mortality was 87 patients (14%) during study time
But
249 of 611 patients studied
Of the 249, 21 (8%) died
Baseline zinc levels
Died, (21 people) mean plasma zinc = 43 μg/dl
Survived, (228 people) mean plasma zinc = 63.1 μg/dl
Higher zinc levels, associated with lower maximum levels of interleukin-6 during the period of active infection
Zinc level lower than 50 μg/dl at admission, 2.3 times increased risk of in-hospital death
Compared with those of 50 μg/dl or higher
Lower zinc levels at admission correlate with higher inflammation in the course of infection and poorer outcome
Low plasma zinc levels at admission are associated with mortality in COVID-19 in our study
Further studies are needed to assess the therapeutic impact of this association
COVID-19: Poor outcomes in patients with zinc deficiency (International Journal of Infectious Diseases, November 2020)
Chennai, India
Prospective study of fasting zinc levels in COVID-19 patients at the time of hospitalization
Healthy controls median 105.8 μg/dl
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Zinc is a trace element with potent immunoregulatory and antiviral properties
Is utilized in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Patients with serious COVID-19 had significantly low zinc levels in comparison to healthy controls
Zinc deficient COVID patients developed more complications
Zinc deficient patients 70.4% developed complications
Non zinc deficient patients, 30.0% developed complications, (p = 0.009)
Acute respiratory distress syndrome
More need of steroids
Increased mortality
Zinc deficient COVID patients had a prolonged hospital stay
Zinc deficient patients, 7.9 days
Non zinc deficient patients, 5.7 days, (p = 0.048)
In vitro studies
Reduced zinc levels increase SARS-CoV-2 virus receptor interactions
Increased zinc levels inhibit ACE2 expression
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Zin...
What zinc does
Catalytic activity of approximately 100 enzymes
Plays a role in immune function
Protein synthesis
Wound healing
DNA synthesis
Cell division
Normal growth and development, pregnancy, childhood, adolescence
Required for sense of taste and smell
Zinc and immunity
Severe zinc deficiency depresses immune function
Even mild to moderate degrees of zinc deficiency can impair macrophage and neutrophil functions, natural killer cell activity, and complement activity
Body requires zinc to develop and activate T-lymphocytes
Low zinc levels have shown reduced lymphocyte proliferation
…. that can be corrected by zinc supplementation
Low zinc status has been associated with increased susceptibility to pneumonia and other infections in children in developing countries and the elderly
Foods
Oysters
Sea food
Beef
Pork
Baked beans
Fortified cereals
Pumpkin seeds
Yogurt
Cashew nuts
Chickpeas
Oats
Almonds
Vitamin D and zinc can be made in bulk for essentially nothing
