`Studies Suggest EVOO Helps Reduce Covid Symptoms - Olive Oil Times
enEnglish
enEnglishfrFrançaiselελληνικάdeDeutscheitItalianozh-CN中文ptPortuguêsesEspañoltrTürkçehrHrvatskija日本語hiहिंदी
enEnglish
enEnglishfrFrançaiselελληνικάdeDeutscheitItalianozh-CN中文ptPortuguêsesEspañoltrTürkçehrHrvatskija日本語hiहिंदी

Studies Suggest EVOO Helps Reduce Covid Symptoms

By Clarissa Joshua
Mar. 15, 2021 09:31 UTC

Evidence from new and recent stud­ies iden­ti­fies extra vir­gin olive oil as a key food item that could help mit­i­gate the effects of COVID-19.

Along with other pop­u­lar foods in the Mediterranean diet, extra vir­gin olive oil low­ers cytokine lev­els, reduc­ing symp­toms and sever­ity among COVID-19 patients.

Oleuropein has shown poten­tial antivi­ral activ­ity against the res­pi­ra­tory syn­cy­tial virus, a com­mon upper res­pi­ra­tory infec­tion virus.- Ahmad Alkhatib, researcher, Teesside University Center for Public Health

While cytokines play a cru­cial and ben­e­fi­cial role in sup­port­ing the immune sys­tem, too many pro­duce a cytokine storm.

Also known as hyper­cy­tokine­mia, this immune sys­tem over­re­ac­tion has a detri­men­tal impact on peo­ple suf­fer­ing from COVID-19 and has been iden­ti­fied as one of the causes of death among COVID-19 patients.

See Also:Health News

Cytokine storms reduce the amount of oxy­gen in the blood, cause fluid build-up in the lungs, cre­ate breath­ing dif­fi­culty and lead to other symp­toms typ­i­cally expe­ri­enced due to the virus.

Along with reduc­ing symp­toms from the dis­ease, olive oil con­sump­tion also plays a role in pre­ven­tion. As with all viruses, a healthy immune sys­tem makes peo­ple less sus­cep­ti­ble to con­tract one.

“Olive oil, espe­cially extra vir­gin olive oil, con­tains monoun­sat­u­rated fatty acids and sev­eral polyphe­nols includ­ing oleu­ropein and hydrox­y­ty­rosol,” said Ahmad Alkhatib, a researcher at Teesside University Center for Public Health. ​“These have sev­eral antiox­ida­tive and anti-inflam­ma­tory prop­er­ties, which can be linked with sig­nif­i­cant antivi­ral and antibac­te­r­ial poten­tial.”

“Oleuropein has shown poten­tial antivi­ral activ­ity against the res­pi­ra­tory syn­cy­tial virus, a com­mon upper res­pi­ra­tory infec­tion virus,” he added. ​“This effect has been attrib­uted to the antiox­ida­tive prop­erty of eleno­lic acid, the main frag­ment in oleu­ropein.”

Other foods in the Mediterranean diet also have antivi­ral prop­er­ties, includ­ing fruit, veg­eta­bles, fish, nuts, herbs and seeds. They are known as func­tional foods due to their nutraceu­ti­cals, includ­ing polyphe­nols, ter­penoids, flavonoids, alka­loids, sterols, pig­ments and unsat­u­rated fatty acids.

Experts also note that phys­i­cal exer­cise is another impor­tant fac­tor in sup­port­ing the immune sys­tem and reduc­ing viral risk. Exercise and nutri­tious food also enhance sleep qual­ity and reg­u­late sleep pat­terns, strength­en­ing the immune sys­tem.

Incorporating mod­er­ate-inten­sity exer­cise and fol­low­ing the Mediterranean diet could mit­i­gate the risk of con­tract­ing COVID-19 and other viruses.

More articles on:  , ,

Advertisement
Advertisement

Related Articles