Rome, April 20 (beraking latest news Health) – Following a ketogenic diet, that is a diet low in carbohydrates and high in lipids, in patients with Covid-19 contributes to the reduction of mortality, the use of artificial ventilation and the need for hospitalization in intensive care of these subjects. This is demonstrated by an Italian study conducted by Samir Giuseppe Sukkar and Matteo Bassetti, respectively directors of Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition and of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the San Martino Polyclinic Hospital in Genoa, published in the US magazine ‘Nutrition’.
Up to now – it is the premise of the study – it has been observed that in coronavirus patients, characterized by a more severe picture, the so-called ‘cytokine storm’ plays a decisive role, an exaggerated immune response implemented by the body to defend itself from the virus. Among the main responsible for the release of cytokines, molecules involved in the inflammation process, there are the M1 macrophages, cells which, when activated, consume exclusively glucose. Hence the effectiveness of a ketogenic diet which, providing for a considerable restriction of the intake of carbohydrates (or sugars) – details a note from the San Martino di Genova – would lead to a lower availability of nutrient for the M1 macrophages, with consequent control and limitation of the production of cytokines, capable of triggering, if produced in excessive quantities, the cytokine storm.
The study, conducted between February and July 2020 on 102 positive Covid patients afferent to the Polyclinic, compared 34 people who had followed a normocaloric, normoproteic ketogenic diet with 68 subjects who had followed, in the same period, a common diet, with ” extremely relevant results on survival at 30 days and on the need for transfer to intensive care. Both parameters were in fact lower in patients on a ketogenic diet “, explain the authors.
“In this study, for the first time, we consider nutrition in a value that is no longer supportive, but also therapeutic, being able to strongly contribute to block the serious complication of Covid-19 or the cytokine storm, capable of contributing to the improvement of the prognosis of patients, “explains Sukkar. “Furthermore, even if the recently published experience will be followed by a multicentre randomized controlled study for further confirmation – he specifies – I believe that, at present, it is strongly necessary to consider the ketogenic diet especially in positive subjects under treatment at home” .
However, the expert warns that “it must still be a very early intervention, particularly in the first week of illness, because – he points out – being the ketogenic diet based on the reduction of the activation of inflammatory cells (macrophages), it would not seem to have a therapeutic efficacy when the inflammation and the cytokine storm have already exploded. In particular, the diet should be recommended for obese subjects, strongly at risk of complications from Covid-19. Remember that the diet cannot and must not be a ‘do it yourself’ – he warns – and particular attention must be paid to diabetics, nephropaths and pregnant women as, despite being a normocaloric diet, the reduced presence of sugars could be dangerous for subjects undergoing insulin therapy, hypoglycemic or nephropathic “. Therefore it is always necessary to “ask your doctor if there may be any contraindications” to following this diet.
“Collaboration with colleagues from the Clinical Nutrition Operational Unit and attention to the diet of positive patients Covid denotes the importance of multidisciplinarity in the management and care of patients affected by this infection. Multidisciplinarity was one of the cornerstones and strengths of the medical, clinical and scientific work done on Covid at the San Martino Polyclinic “, comments Bassetti.