Immune-boosting effect of natural remedies and supplements on progress of, and recovery from COVID-19 infection
Naglaa Gamil Shehab, Sareh Dortaj, Mariam Othman, Esraa Mostafa, Parisa Rezvani, Fatimah Alshawi, Lilyan Al Ahmad
doi:10.4314/tjpr.v21i2.13
To investigate the effect of natural remedies and supplements on the progress of and recovery from COVID-19 infection, and the role of safety precautions in controlling the spread of its causative pathogen. Methods: A questionnaire was designed and electronically distributed among previously infected individuals across countries. The survey included questions about the participants' demographic information, medical history, how they were infected, symptoms they have experienced, where they were isolated, the degree of precautions taken against the virus, and their consumption of natural remedies or supplements before and during the infection period.
Results: The results showed that natural remedies and supplements are widely consumed among COVID-19 patients both before and during infection, either as a single remedy or in combination with other remedies. As the age of the participants increased, the incidence of their hospitalization increased. Significant results were observed when comparing the severity of infection with the number of natural remedies and supplements taken before (P 0.000) and during the infection (P 0.003).
Conclusion: Increasing the intake of natural remedies and/or supplements before and during COVID-19 infection lowers the severity of the infection. Vitamin C, honey, and citrus fruits such as orange and lemon were the major remedies consumed before and during infection. A large number of the participants that experienced severe COVID-19 conditions, did not consume any natural remedies or supplements.
Conflict of Interest The authors declare that no conflict of interest is associated with this work.
Contribution of authors We declare that this work was done by the authors named in this article and all liabilities pertaining to claims relating to the content of this article will be borne by the authors. Dr. Naglaa Gamil Shehab, Prof. in the Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacotherapeutics Department, Dubai Pharmacy College, Dubai, UAE conceived and designed this study. All authors contributed in data collection, analysis, manuscript writing and proofreading for publication.
Open Access This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/rea d), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.
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