Western Dietary Pattern Antioxidant Intakes and Oxidative Stress: Importance During the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Pandemic

https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmaa171Get rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

ABSTRACT

The importance of balanced dietary habits, which include appropriate amounts of antioxidants to maintain the immune system, has become increasingly relevant during the current SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic, because viral infections are characterized by high oxidative stress. Furthermore, the measures taken by governments to control the pandemic have led to increased anxiety, stress, and depression, which affect physical and mental health, all of which are influenced by nutritional status, diet, and lifestyle. The Mediterranean diet (MD), Atlantic diet (AD), and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans all provide the essential vitamins, minerals, and phenolic compounds needed to activate enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant responses. However, viral pandemics such as the current COVID-19 crisis entail high oxidative damage caused by both the infection and the resultant social stresses within populations, which increases the probability and severity of infection. Balanced dietary patterns such as the MD and the AD are characterized by the consumption of fruit, vegetables, legumes, olive oil, and whole grains with low intakes of processed foods and red meat. For a healthy lifestyle in young adults, the MD in particular provides the required amount of antioxidants per day for vitamins D (0.3–3.8 μg), E (17.0 mg), C (137.2–269.8 mg), A (1273.3 μg), B-12 (1.5–2.0 μg), and folate (455.1–561.3 μg), the minerals Se (120.0 μg), Zn (11.0 mg), Fe (15.0–18.8 mg), and Mn (5.2–12.5 mg), and polyphenols (1171.00 mg) needed to maintain an active immune response. However, all of these diets are deficient in the recommended amount of vitamin D (20 μg/d). Therefore, vulnerable populations such as elders and obese individuals could benefit from antioxidant supplementation to improve their antioxidant response. Although evidence remains scarce, there is some indication that a healthy diet, along with supplemental antioxidant intake, is beneficial to COVID-19 patients.

antioxidants
balanced diet
Mediterranean diet
Atlantic diet
viral infections
COVID-19

Abbreviations used

AD
Atlantic diet
AmD
American diet
CAT
catalase
CoV
coronavirus
GPx
glutathione peroxidase
MD
Mediterranean diet
MERS
Middle East respiratory syndrome
ROS
reactive oxygen species
SARS
severe acute respiratory syndrome
SOD
superoxide dismutase
25(OH)D
25-hydroxyvitamin D

Cited by (0)

Supported by the Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID) [CONICYT] for scholarship no. 21171483, and by financial support from FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) under the framework of the project PTDC/SAU-NUT/30322/2017.

Author disclosures: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

All authors contributed equally to the present work.