Better diet would fortify us against next virus

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is providing important leadership, but he could do a better job of keeping the curve flattened and the economy reopened by embracing nutritional science to defend against the worst effects of COVID-19.

Consuming a whole-food, plantbased diet can prevent illness and restore health. The effect is profound, broad in scope and acts rapidly when adopted. It does not rely on individual nutrients acting independently. Instead, nutrients consumed as food act together, like notes in an orchestral production.

Our work in rural China in the 1980s suggests that chronic degenerative diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer associate with animal-based food consumption, even surprisingly small amounts. We also collected information on viral diseases and found evidence that may be relevant to our current COVID-19 dilemma.

The virus we studied most intensively in China was hepatitis B (HBV), which causes liver cancer.

We measured HBV antibody and antigen prevalence and a large number of dietary and nutritional factors, and found a striking association: more plant food consumption, more disease-fighting antibodies, and more animal-based food, fewer antibodies and more HBV antigen and liver cancer.

This interplay of nutrition and viral activity for HBV likely applies to COVID-19, especially for older individuals who account for 80% of all deaths. Further, over 95% of these deaths occur among individuals compromised by the same poor nutrition associated with animal-based and processed food consumption typical in Western societies.

Additional evidence, now well publicized, suggests that individuals switching to a whole plant-based diet would not only decrease degenerative disease, thus lessening their COVID-19 risk, but also increase their production of antibodies. And there is ample information showing that this nutritional effect may begin in a matter of days.

By strengthening immunity while also addressing diet-related comorbidities, a nutritional strategy would reduce strain on hospitals and improve our ability to keep the economy open, now that it is restarting. A nutritional strategy can also position the population to withstand the effects of new viruses. It’s time our health and political authorities acknowledge and embrace this idea.