Did you know that the shape of your body might affect how sick you get from COVID-19?
We usually say, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” but if your body shape is like an apple, you might be in more danger.
Scientists from Japan have recently discovered that people with lots of belly fat may be at higher risk if they catch COVID-19.
Exploring the Connection: COVID-19 and Belly Fat
In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) found that having too much belly fat could lead to more serious COVID-19 symptoms and even death among Japanese patients.
Sometimes, COVID-19 patients experience a scary thing called a “cytokine storm”. This is when the body’s defense system goes into overdrive and creates too much inflammation, making it hard for the patient to breathe.
Some factors make it more likely for people to experience a cytokine storm when they have COVID-19, such as having high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, or being overweight.
The researchers observed that patients with lots of belly fat seemed to get sicker from COVID-19 than other patients.
They thought that belly fat might be linked to the body’s overactive defense response in COVID-19 patients.
The Experiment: What Happened?
To test their theory, the scientists used two types of chubby mice. One type, the ob/ob mice, put on a lot of belly fat. The other type, the db/db mice, got fat all over their bodies.
Both kinds of mice had a problem with the hormone leptin, which tells us when we’re full. Because of this problem, both types of mice ended up eating too much and getting fat.
The scientists gave these mice (and some non-fat mice) the virus that causes COVID-19 and watched to see what happened.
The results were shocking. All the ob/ob mice (the ones with belly fat) died from the virus, but most of the non-fat mice and the fat db/db mice lived through the infection.
The scientists noticed that the ob/ob mice made more harmful substances that cause inflammation than the db/db mice.
When the scientists stopped one of these harmful substances, called interleukin-6 (IL-6), from working, more of the ob/ob mice survived.
The scientists also found that if they gave the ob/ob mice a leptin supplement before they became obese, they were more likely to survive the virus.
However, if they gave the supplement after the mice were already obese, it didn’t help.
What Does This Mean?
The scientists concluded that too much fat might trigger a cytokine storm and slow down the elimination of the virus from the body, leading to higher death rates from COVID-19.
They also noted that being overweight seems to make COVID-19 more deadly for Asians than for White people. This might be because Asian people are more likely to carry their extra weight in their bellies.
So, what can we do with this information? Well, the good news is that we already have medicines that can reduce inflammation, including IL-6 blockers.
The findings suggest that these medicines might be particularly helpful for obese patients with a lot of belly fat.
As we continue to learn more about COVID-19, we can hopefully find better ways to protect everyone from this dangerous virus.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about the key cause of type 2 diabetes, and this eating habit could help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
For more information about nutrition, please see recent studies about unhealthy plant-based diets linked to metabolic syndrome, and results showing ultrasound may help reverse type 2 diabetes.
The study was published in PNAS.
Copyright © 2023 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
