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10.07.2021

Selenium increases chance of survival after infection with coronavirus

A diet with a relatively large amount of fish from the sea, Brazil nuts and other sources of selenium may enhance recovery after infection with the coronavirus. This is suggested by an exploratory Chinese epidemiological study, which was published in the spring of 2020 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Study
In February 2020, researchers from Anhui Agricultural University in 17 cities and towns in the vicinity of Hubei - the region of which Wuhan is the capital - determined the recovery chances of people hospitalized with a severe covid infection.

In previous studies, researchers in those cities had determined how much selenium was present in the residents' hair. This concentration gives an indication of the dietary intake of selenium over a longer period of time.

Results
The more selenium there was in the hair of its residents in a city, the greater the chance that covid patients in that city would recover from their disease.

Mechanism
"Our results show an association between the reported cure rates for covid-19 and selenium status", write the researchers. "These data are consistent with the evidence of the antiviral effects of selenium from previous studies."

"Indeed, multiple cellular and viral mechanisms involving selenium and selenoproteins could influence viral pathogenicity, including virally encoded selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidases."

"Such viral mechanisms could contribute to the well-documented oxidative stress associated with many RNA virus infections; increased viral replication (hence increased mutation rate); and observed higher pathogenicity or mortality under selenium deficiency, as reported here for SARS-CoV-2."

Source:
Am J Clin Nutr. 2020 Jun 1;111(6):1297-9.

More:
Multivitamin (with selenium) protects against viruses 11.11.2020

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