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Nutritional Immunity, Zinc Sufficiency, and COVID-19 Mortality in Socially Similar European Populations

The impact of zinc (Zn) sufficiency/supplementation on COVID-19-associated mortality and incidence (SARS-CoV-2 infections) remains unknown. During an infection, the levels of free Zn are reduced as part of “nutritional immunity” to limit the growth and replication of pathogen and the ensuing inflamm...

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Autores principales: Singh, Samer, Diwaker, Amita, Singh, Brijesh P., Singh, Rakesh K.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8484327/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34603280
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.699389
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author Singh, Samer
Diwaker, Amita
Singh, Brijesh P.
Singh, Rakesh K.
author_facet Singh, Samer
Diwaker, Amita
Singh, Brijesh P.
Singh, Rakesh K.
author_sort Singh, Samer
collection PubMed
description The impact of zinc (Zn) sufficiency/supplementation on COVID-19-associated mortality and incidence (SARS-CoV-2 infections) remains unknown. During an infection, the levels of free Zn are reduced as part of “nutritional immunity” to limit the growth and replication of pathogen and the ensuing inflammatory damage. Considering its key role in immune competency and frequently recorded deficiency in large sections of different populations, Zn has been prescribed for both prophylactic and therapeutic purposes in COVID-19 without any corroborating evidence for its protective role. Multiple trials are underway evaluating the effect of Zn supplementation on COVID-19 outcome in patients getting standard of care treatment. However, the trial designs presumably lack the power to identify negative effects of Zn supplementation, especially in the vulnerable groups of elderly and patients with comorbidities (contributing 9 out of 10 deaths; up to >8,000-fold higher mortality). In this study, we have analyzed COVID-19 mortality and incidence (case) data from 23 socially similar European populations with comparable confounders (population: 522.47 million; experiencing up to >150-fold difference in death rates) and at the matching stage of the pandemic (March 12 to June 26, 2020; first wave of COVID-19 incidence and mortality). Our results suggest a positive correlation between populations’ Zn-sufficiency status and COVID-19 mortality [r (23): 0.7893–0.6849, p-value < 0.0003] as well as incidence [r (23):0.8084–0.5658; p-value < 0.005]. The observed association is contrary to what would be expected if Zn sufficiency was protective in COVID-19. Thus, controlled trials or retrospective analyses of the adverse event patients’ data should be undertaken to correctly guide the practice of Zn supplementation in COVID-19.
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spelling pubmed-84843272021-10-02 Nutritional Immunity, Zinc Sufficiency, and COVID-19 Mortality in Socially Similar European Populations Singh, Samer Diwaker, Amita Singh, Brijesh P. Singh, Rakesh K. Front Immunol Immunology The impact of zinc (Zn) sufficiency/supplementation on COVID-19-associated mortality and incidence (SARS-CoV-2 infections) remains unknown. During an infection, the levels of free Zn are reduced as part of “nutritional immunity” to limit the growth and replication of pathogen and the ensuing inflammatory damage. Considering its key role in immune competency and frequently recorded deficiency in large sections of different populations, Zn has been prescribed for both prophylactic and therapeutic purposes in COVID-19 without any corroborating evidence for its protective role. Multiple trials are underway evaluating the effect of Zn supplementation on COVID-19 outcome in patients getting standard of care treatment. However, the trial designs presumably lack the power to identify negative effects of Zn supplementation, especially in the vulnerable groups of elderly and patients with comorbidities (contributing 9 out of 10 deaths; up to >8,000-fold higher mortality). In this study, we have analyzed COVID-19 mortality and incidence (case) data from 23 socially similar European populations with comparable confounders (population: 522.47 million; experiencing up to >150-fold difference in death rates) and at the matching stage of the pandemic (March 12 to June 26, 2020; first wave of COVID-19 incidence and mortality). Our results suggest a positive correlation between populations’ Zn-sufficiency status and COVID-19 mortality [r (23): 0.7893–0.6849, p-value < 0.0003] as well as incidence [r (23):0.8084–0.5658; p-value < 0.005]. The observed association is contrary to what would be expected if Zn sufficiency was protective in COVID-19. Thus, controlled trials or retrospective analyses of the adverse event patients’ data should be undertaken to correctly guide the practice of Zn supplementation in COVID-19. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-09-17 /pmc/articles/PMC8484327/ /pubmed/34603280 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.699389 Text en Copyright © 2021 Singh, Diwaker, Singh and Singh https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Immunology
Singh, Samer
Diwaker, Amita
Singh, Brijesh P.
Singh, Rakesh K.
Nutritional Immunity, Zinc Sufficiency, and COVID-19 Mortality in Socially Similar European Populations
title Nutritional Immunity, Zinc Sufficiency, and COVID-19 Mortality in Socially Similar European Populations
title_full Nutritional Immunity, Zinc Sufficiency, and COVID-19 Mortality in Socially Similar European Populations
title_fullStr Nutritional Immunity, Zinc Sufficiency, and COVID-19 Mortality in Socially Similar European Populations
title_full_unstemmed Nutritional Immunity, Zinc Sufficiency, and COVID-19 Mortality in Socially Similar European Populations
title_short Nutritional Immunity, Zinc Sufficiency, and COVID-19 Mortality in Socially Similar European Populations
title_sort nutritional immunity, zinc sufficiency, and covid-19 mortality in socially similar european populations
topic Immunology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8484327/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34603280
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.699389
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