ISOLATION

YEARS ago as a junior doctor I suffered the worst flu I could ever imagine.

With a high fever and cough it took me a week before I was able to get out of bed and six weeks before I felt back to normal strength and energy levels.

I worked out there were three things leading up to the illness that made what should have been a relatively mild illness a much more debilitating one that made me feel like death warmed up.

Firstly I was particularly stressed, I didn’t sleep properly and this triggered me eating junk foods such as chocolate and crisps. This made my immune system less effective at fighting the illness.

One thing that has emerged from the data so far on coronavirus is that there are some people who are more at risk of developing more severe complications of the illness than others. In Italy, age appeared to be the key factor. It has the oldest population in Europe by far, with an average age of those succumbing to the virus being 81. But age isn’t the only factor.

On average those individuals had two or three other problems. They include smoking, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and cancer. In Wuhan, despite a much younger population of those affected, more than 60 per cent who were hospitalised and suffered the worst outcomes had either high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes. China has the highest prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the world.

The medical profession has long known that high levels of sugar in the blood – a common problem for people with diabetes – causes the immune system to malfunction resulting in severe infections and increased risk of death. Research shows excess body fat is also linked to high blood pressure and a less effective immune system. Obesity is associated with complications related to flu and hospital admissions.

The UK is one of the most obese countries in Europe, strongly linked to ultra-processed junk food which now makes up a staggering half of our diet.

Data on this pandemic is emerging all the time, but it is interesting that Portugal has the lowest consumption of ultra-processed food in Europe (under 10 per cent of calories) and has so far reported the lowest mortality from Covid-19.

The good news is that dietary changes can rapidly improve blood glucose levels for most type 2 diabetics with up to 50 per cent reversal within weeks. Covid-19 could be the catalyst for Britain to become healthier and reverse the type 2 diabetes and obesity epidemics.

Having analysed the impact of diet and lifestyle on health, I follow my own advice and was cheered to discover from a high-tech body composition scan a few weeks ago that my metabolic age is currently 29. I’m actually 42!

So here are my key lifestyle tips to keep you healthy not just now but for the rest of your life.

● Dr Malhotra is an NHS consultant cardiologist, professor of evidencebased medicine and author of The Pioppi Diet.for workouts: crossfit.com /athome/movements. Information: Diabetes.co.uk or Dietdoctor.com