Cholesterol assists COVID-19
If you eat meat and animal products you are increasing your intake of cholesterol which is only found in meat, and animal products like eggs, milk, and cheese. Recent research has shown that cholesterol facilitates the entry of COVID-19 into host cells where the disease replicates and makes you ill.1
How does this work?
SARS-COV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19. When a SARS-COV-2 cell enters your body it attaches to cholesterol which is called “lipid rafts” and these rafts take the COVID-19 protein into the cells in your body.2 Think of cholesterol as small fat particles that give SARS-COV-2 a ride into cells. Lipid rafts comprised of cholesterol fat operate as docking sites for ACE-2 receptors (Angeotension-Converting Enzyme 2) and viral attachments by the S Protein of SARS-COV-2 are taken into the host cells by Clathrin.3
When there is more cholesterol in your body more COVID-19 proteins entered cells and when cholesterol was depleted viral cell entry was reduced.2 While research has been done on animals and more needs to be done on humans, the implications are significant for dealing with the present pandemic.
Avoid eating cholesterol
Some researchers offer the use of statin drugs as a cholesterol-lowering solution.4 However, statins have serious side effects such as muscle and other organ damage. A better solution is to reduce or avoid putting unhealthy products like cholesterol in your body in the first place. Because plants have no cholesterol as well as offering all the nutrients you need, why not consider a Whole Food Plant-Based (WFPB) lifestyle. A 2014 study comparing all major diets showed WFPB to be the optimum way to eat over carnivore and omnivore diets.5
Whole Food Plant-Based for Health
We also know that people most susceptible to COVID-19 illness have comorbidities like diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and obesity. These can be treated and often cured with a WFPB lifestyle as well.
1. Jeon, J.H.; Lee, C. Cholesterol is important for the entry process of porcine deltacoronavirus. Arch. Virol. 2018, 163, 3119–3124.
2. Li, G.; Li, Y.; Yamate, M.; Li, S.; Ikuta, K. Lipid rafts play an important role in the early stage of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus life cycle. Microbes Infect. 2007, 9, 96–102.
3. Radenkovic D, Chawla S, Pirro M, Sahebkar A, Banach M. Cholesterol in Relation to COVID-19: Should We Care about It?. J Clin Med. 2020;9(6):1909. Published 2020 Jun 18. doi:10.3390/jcm9061909
4. Subir R, Jagat J M, Kalyan K G. Pros and cons for use of statins in people with coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jul 11]. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2020;14(5):1225-1229. doi:10.1016/j.dsx.2020.07.011
5. Clarys P, et al., Comparison of Nutritional Quality of the Vegan, Vegetarian, Semi-Vegetarian, Pesco-Vegetarian and Omnivorous Diet. Nutrients. 2014, 6, 9, 1318–32. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu6031318.
