Lifestyle Adjustments in Long-COVID Management: Potential Benefits of Plant-Based Diets

AbstractPurpose of ReviewThe SARS-CoV-2-pandemic has caused mortality and morbidity at an unprecedented global scale. Many patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 continue to experience symptoms after the acute phase of infection and report fatigue, sleep difficulties, anxiety, and depression as well as arthralgia and muscle weakness. Summarized under the umbrella term “long-COVID,” these symptoms may last weeks to months and impose a substantial burden on affected individuals. Dietary approaches to tackle these complications have received comparably little attention. Although plant-based diets in particular were shown to exert benefits on underlying condition s linked to poor COVID-19 outcomes, their role with regard to COVID-19 sequelae is yet largely unknown. Thus, this review sought to investigate whether a plant-based diet could reduce the burden of long-COVID.Recent FindingsThe number of clinical trials investigating the role of plant-based nutrition in COVID-19 prevention and management is currently limited. Yet, there is evidence from pre-pandemic observational and clinical studies that a plant-based diet may be of general benefit with regard to several clinical conditions that can also be found in individuals with COVID-19. These include anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, and musculoskeletal pain. Adoption of a plant-based diet leads to a reduced intake in pro-inflammatory mediators and could be one accessible strategy to tackle long-COVID associated prolonged syste...
Source: Current Nutrition Reports - Category: Nutrition Source Type: research