Germs, Genes, and Greens
Environment, nutrition and behavior in activating genes and immunity
Despite consensus within Centers for Disease Control and National Institute of Health, confirming a majority of Covid19 infections are asymptomatic, show mild symptoms, or require no hospitalization, exploring why remains speculative.
Our institutions moved quickly identifying risk factors, including age, hypertension, obesity, yet have been slow or absent when assessing why a majority avoid critical illness. Prevailing theories have concentrated on three factors genetics, environment and socioeconomic status.
Genes are not casual observers within the body, they are expressed or inhibited through a range of elements, including diet, nutrition (what we eat), our environment (where we live, air we breathe, how we feel), as well as age, all of which affect immunity.
In covering our innate ability to fight disease, main stream media outlets including CNN and The New York Times, peripherally convey the importance of diet, nutrition and lifestyle, yet stop short of validating the critical role for which they play in an optimally functioning immune response.
Coverage tends to focus overwhelmingly on identifying effective medicines and developing a vaccine, both of which are crucial and necessary. Indifference on improving immune function however, is not only short sighted and detrimental to progress now, but will prove similar in future outbreaks.
Focusing on pharmaceuticals is not surprising, NIH is replete with research and funding for drug studies, creating a cycle wherein research funds more drugs and drugs fund more research. By 2023, the global pharmaceutical industry will reach 1.5 Trillion Dollars in value, by contrast, all dietary supplements represent annual expenditures of 82 Billion Dollars.
Halls of Congress lack Vitamin C lobbyists, private corporations are unable to patent Zinc, and leafy green vegetables do not line political pockets or research institutions on par with drug makers.
Prevailing wisdom within government circles tends to focus on pharmaceuticals as panacea. In the rare event vitamins or minerals are studied, similar quality controls used for drugs are lacking, with promising trials often terminated or findings buried.
As evidence mounts, remaining neutral or arguing against the healing properties of certain nutrients is becoming increasingly difficult. Hospitals are utilizing Vitamin C therapy when treating advanced stage cancer, as well as critically ill Covid19 patients, effectively inhibiting cytokine storms, circumventing respiratory failure for those patients.
Antiviral activity of Zinc is also well documented in the medical literature, according to Dr. James Robb, one of the first virologists studying Coronaviruses, Zinc lozenges can keep Coronavirus from multiplying in the throat and nasopharynx.
Researchers have also attributed Vitamin D and Vitamin A deficiencies in compromised immunity, leading to increases in infectious disease amongst vulnerable populations.
Despite such references, as well citing studies within NIH archives to the efficacy of vitamins and minerals, when clinicians mention supplementation as precautionary or preventative, they require extensive disclaimers.
Two centuries ago, Scurvy, a deadly disease responsible for two million deaths, was completely cured with Vitamin C. In the last century, Vitamin D eradicated rickets and iodine in table salt mitigated thyroid conditions, yet healthcare providers advocating the healing properties of vitamins and minerals in improving immunity find themselves ostracized.
Although not specifically mentioned in the original text, the phrase “First do no harm” has become linked to the Hippocratic Oath. A lesser known Hippocratic quote, equally important, yet rarely mentioned states “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food”.
In an NIH review of Folic Acid, a vitamin routinely recommended, often prescribed to pregnant women for proper fetal development, Mark Lucock states, “many doctors’ knowledge of nutrition is rudimentary”.
It comes as no surprise, those recommending and advocating current treatments have limited focus to drugs and vaccines, forgoing the immune system almost entirely.
None of the Vitamins or Minerals discussed above are a cure for Covid19, as of today, no cure exists, only a variety of medicines and therapies that show varying degrees of efficacy.
Like many systems of the body, immunity derives not only from genetics, cellular or chemical mediators but diet and lifestyle, including adequate sleep, exercise, stress levels and mental state.
Nutrition and immunity must not only be discussed but elevated, explored, even included in treatments.
While some may propose extreme interventions, consider improving your body’s ability to fight ANY AND ALL INFECTIONS, including ones never previously encountered, which happens more often than you would think.