Could specialised diet help with long-term covid?

Approximately 7 per cent of Americans have had protracted COVID, which is characterised by a variety of chronic health problems that occur after infection and recovery from COVID-19. Fatigue, brain fog, headaches, chest pain, heart palpitations, and other symptoms may occur.

There is currently no established cure for the illness, and the mechanisms that produce it are unknown.

The premise of the trial revolves around recent research indicating that long COVID may be caused by a hyper inflammatory response that becomes activated during COVID-19 as the body fights off the virus but, in some people, does not recede even after the infection has passed. High inflammation levels in the body can lead to organ damage and other health problems.

“We are examining if food choice can quiet the body’s inflammatory response and in doing so, effectively minimize or curtail long COVID symptoms,” said Adupa Rao, MD, an investigator of the clinical trial and medical director of the Keck Medicine Covid Recovery Clinic.

The study will examine the anti-inflammatory effect of a low-carbohydrate diet to lower blood glucose (sugar) levels in combination with a medical food that raises blood ketone levels. Ketones, including beta-hydroxybutyrate, the active ketone in this food, are chemicals the body produces to provide energy when the body is low on carbohydrates and sugars. A low-carb diet and ketones have both been associated with reduced inflammation in the body.