Possible roles of phytochemicals with bioactive properties in the prevention of and recovery from COVID-19
Sachiko Koyama, Vonnie D C Shields, Thomas Heinbockel, Paule V Joseph, Poonam Adhikari, Rishemjit Kaur, Ritesh Kumar, Rafieh Alizadeh, Surabhi Bhutani, Orietta Calcinoni, Carla Mucignat-Caretta, Jingguo Chen, Keiland W Cooper, Subha R Das, Paloma Rohlfs Domínguez, Maria Dolors Guàrdia, Maria A Klyuchnikova, Tatiana K Laktionova, Eri Mori, Zeinab Namjoo, Mehmet Ha Nguyen, Mehmet Hakan Özdener, Shima Parsa, Elif Özdener Poyraz, Daniel Jan Strub, Farzad Taghizadeh-Hesary, Rumi Ueha, Vera V Voznessenskaya
doi:10.1101/2024.01.29.24301882
Purpose There have been large geographical differences in the infection and death rates of COVID-19. Foods and beverages containing high amounts of phytochemicals with bioactive properties were suggested to prevent contracting, to limit the severity of, and to facilitate recovery from COVID-19. The goal of our study was to determine the correlation of the type of foods/beverages people consumed and the risk reduction of contracting COVID-19 and the recovery from COVID-19.
Methods We developed an online survey that asked the participants whether they contracted COVID-19, their symptoms, time to recover, and their frequency of eating various types of foods/beverages. The survey was first developed in English and then translated into 10 different languages.
Results The participants who did not contract COVID-19 consumed vegetables, herbs/spices, and fermented foods/beverages significantly more than the participants who contracted COVID-19 and those who were not tested but became sick most likely from COVID-19. The geographic location of participants corresponded with the language of the survey, except for the English version, thus, nine out of the 10 language versions represented a country. Among the six countries (India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain) with over one hundred participants, we found that in India and Japan the people who contracted COVID-19 showed significantly shorter recovery time, and greater daily intake of vegetables, herbs/spices, and fermented foods/beverages was associated with faster recovery.
Conclusion Our results suggest that phytochemical compounds included in the vegetables may have contributed in not only preventing contraction of COVID-19, but also accelerating their recovery.
Author contributions SK, PVJ, VDCS, and TH served as the leadership team of the project to make decisions at each time points. All authors participated in developing the English version of the survey. The English version of the survey was translated into Chinese, Indian English, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish, and the followings were in participated in the translation of each language: JC for Chinese, RisK and RitK for Indian English, CM-C and OC for Italian, RU and EM for Japanese, SP, RA, ZN, and FT-H for Persian, DJS for Polish, TKL, MAK, and VVV for Russian, MDG and PRD for Spanish, and EÖP and MHÖ for Turkish. All authors participated in advertising the survey. RisK, RitK, PA, HN, KWC, and SK analyzed the data. SK wrote the first draft of the paper and all authors participated in editing the draft. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict of interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare
Ethics approval and consent to participate The survey contained a question that asked consent to participate and we obtained consent from the
Supplementary Information
Supplementary Methods
Development of Survey Questions about eating habits were constructed by asking how frequently the participants ate each category of foods, and the category was based on the food classification by the Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare of Japan..
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