Kinkini Gupta
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Written By: Kinkini Gupta | Updated : June 7, 2022 6:01 PM IST
Are You Allergic To Certain Foods? Your Risk Of COVID-19 Infection Is Very Low
People with food allergies have 50% less risk of becoming infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 than people who don't have food allergies. There is good news for people suffering from asthma or respiratory allergies as well. Experts say that they are also not likely to contract some of the more severe and life-threatening manifestations of the virus. Researchers were initially unsure of the exact reason why people with food allergies had a lower COVID-19 risk but eventually they have cited the specific reason. Let us take a look!
US researchers at National Jewish Health and Vanderbilt University speculated the reason to be a different type of inflammation that could stop the COVID-19 virus. This is caused by type 2 cytokines and common among food allergic individuals. Previous studies showed allergic type 2 inflammations can reduce airway levels of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor gene, ACE2. This led researchers to speculate that food allergic patients may have lower ACE2 receptor levels, reducing the ability of the virus to infect cells in these individuals.
Max A. Seibold, the lead National Jewish Health investigator said that according to their findings, diseases characterized by different types of inflammation are associated with infection risk. This suggests underlying inflammation is an important determinant of susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology revealed that obesity and high body mass index are risk factors for infection, whereas those with asthma are not. Study authors speculated that the systemic inflammation that often accompanies obesity may underlie the increased risk experienced by this group. The findings also provide strong evidence that people with asthma, a risk group for poor outcomes from other viral respiratory infections, are not at increased risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Another possibility considered was that people with food allergies dine out less often and have less chance of catching COVID, the study said. But researchers found that people with food allergies have only slightly lower levels of community exposure than the other households.
Even though people experiencing allergies and asthmatic symptoms are at a slightly lower risk of getting COVID-19, experts state that future studies focused on respiratory allergy, asthma and, perhaps, other allergic disorders are needed to provide greater understanding of the impact of underlying allergy on COVID-19 susceptibility and disease severity. A further examination of these relationships could identify novel therapeutic strategies to more effectively control this pandemic.
