Immune Health for COVID-19

Since the onset of the pandemic, fear has become the most pervasive psychological side effect of COVID-19. This fear can manifest in many ways, such as insomnia, anxiety, OCD, and depression, due to the impact of constant and stressful thoughts like, "Am I going to die if I get this?"

I completely understand why and how people are feeling because the media has given little advice on how to stay healthy, and we are drowning in a bombardment of COVID-19 news cycles that have shown little hope. It's a travesty because the medical community which controls the information disseminated to the public does not readily embrace prevention in general or alternatives to medicine.

The medical approach is not focused on health. It is focused on the search for disease - it is disease care, not health care. I want to be very clear here - I support the medical approach 100%, including medications and surgery when it is necessary. I have received medical care and so have my children when medically necessary. However, the current circumstances require the medical community to rise above their philosophy and promote prevention to mitigate the fear. This is not happening in an obvious way, so I would like to give you all sound advice about maintaining a strong and resilient immune system.

Your immune system and body's response to infection are not to be feared but to be supported. Support provides the best opportunity to both fight off infection and recover in a healthy and expected way. The immune system responds to infection by creating inflammation, secreting toxins, and increasing the body temperature. In addition, there are preventative barriers, or barriers of entry into the body by design, to make it challenging for infection to take hold. Your immune system is working for you 24 hours a day to ensure your survival.

Novel infections (new infections) such as COVID-19 can create immune responses in susceptible individuals that can be quite severe. In others, the same infection can produce a mild response. One part of your immune called the adaptive immune system works on your behalf by training and learning how to respond to infections - this is called humoral and cell-mediated immunity.

Humoral immunity works faster, creates antibodies but has a lag response, and cell-mediated has a slower and delayed response and does not produce antibodies. Combined with your innate immune system, the body will fight off infection when it is encountered. Unfortunately, as we have all experienced, the immune reaction to infection can be an unpleasant process. The energy required to fight off infection can be extensive, and until you are recovered, you can feel quite ill.

There is no way to prevent yourself from getting the COVID-19 infection except for isolation or vaccination (which has its limitations but is effective). What you can do and what you should do in addition to the standard public health measures is give yourself the proper nutrients such as vitamins, herbs, bioflavonoids, and probiotics so that your immune system can react appropriately and efficiently.

Studies show that "the main risk factors for COVID-19 is an insufficient immune response and therefore it is appropriate to discuss the protective role of diet regimen and supplement assumption in the prevention of both seasonal infections and SARS-CoV-2. Particularly the scientific community is being called on to carry out new research in this challenging field" (Risk Factors Associated with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and Death in Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pneumonia in Wuhan, China. JAMA Intern. Med. 2020;180:934-943)

Please don't wait around. Thousands of studies demonstrate how helpful diet, nutritional supplementation, and herbs are for the immune system.

The first thing that is vital to know is that the immune system cells have very high nutrient requirements, and various nutrients support normal immune processes. Unfortunately, the standard American diet does not provide the required nutrition.

The second fact to understand is that the immune system reaction to infection is an inflammatory response. If you are already inflamed, the response will be exaggerated and harder to control. The August 5, 2020 issue in the Journal of Immunology had a research article titled "Scientists Suggest COVID-19 Should Be Treated as an Acute Inflammatory Disease."

Most people are inflamed, but some more than others. Why? Because of a distorted omega 6:3 fat ratio. Inflammation is a significant problem and silent epidemic in the United States due to a distorted omega 6:3 ratio. Here is a simple solution. Take a good omega-3 fish oil and drastically reduce the omega-6 oils in your diet. Reduce or remove the cooking oils, take the potato, corn, and other chips out of your diet, read your labels, eat foods with omega-3 oils, and educate yourself on healthy fats and the omega 6:3 ratio.

Third, the white blood cells of your immune system use chemical warfare to fight off infection - such as hydrogen peroxide, hypochlorite (bleach), nitric oxide, and other cell-created toxins to destroy pathogens and require the proper nutrition to mount a rapid and effective attack.

There are numerous recommendations that include herbs, minerals, and vitamins to fight off infection, reduce the effects of viral infections, and strengthen immunity. The list below is the nutrients that I recommend being taken daily. There are various formulas designed for immune support and contain a majority of the vitamins on the list.

Below are nutrients that reduce inflammation, strengthen white blood cells, and support general immunity:

• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin E
• Zinc
• Quercetin
• Omega 3 Fish Oil
• Lactobacillus acidophilus (probiotic)
• Selenium
• CoQ10
• Vitamin D3
• Folic Acid/ B12
• Turmeric
• Holy Basil (Tulsi)
• Arabinex

The herbs below are only necessary when ill:

• Ganoderma Shitake mushroom
• Oregano
• Garlic
• Astragalus

About the Author

Dr. Josh Kantor is a leading Applied Kinesiologist and owner of Chill Space NYC, a NYC Health Spa for wellness. Learn more about their services by visiting ChillSpaceNYC.com