Treating Obesity Can Prevent COVID-19

People with comorbidities experience severe coronavirus symptoms and specially, obesity is contributing to worse outcomes in people with COVID-19. Managing body weight can help in preventing COVID-19.

People suffering with more than one disease, experience more severe coronavirus symptoms and obesity in particular, is contributing to worse outcomes in people with COVID-19.

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that a person is three times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 if he/she has a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher.

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‘Obesity leads to heart diseases, diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, stroke and many more. Diseases like these can make you up to thrice more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19. Reducing inflammation and preventing these other chronic diseases may prevent many of the severe symptoms that can be caused by COVID-19 can cause.’

Luckily, managing body weight will not only lower the risk for severe COVID symptoms, it can also help in preventing other chronic diseases.

“What we see is that patients who are admitted into intensive care units and put on ventilators have a higher prevalence of obesity. We believe it’s related to this massive response by the immune system,” says Parrella, the medical director of the Rush Center for Weight Loss and Bariatric Surgery.

Obesity leads to a number of chronic illnesses that can worsen COVID-19 symptoms.

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Lifestyle changes including the changes in your diet and exercise habits contribute to weight loss and manage obesity.

Cutting out sugars from your diet completely, including non-starchy vegetables and eating enough protein are great ways to help weight loss. An easy way to do this is to avoid sugary beverages.

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Water, unsweetened tea and black coffee are all good options and a bit of lemon, lime or orange can be added if necessary.

When it comes to food, Parrella says avoiding processed foods in favour of vegetables and proteins is one of the best changes one can make in their diet.

Eating vegetables that are all different colours of the rainbow, from leafy greens to yellow squash to vibrant red tomatoes helps in losing weight.

Parrella recommends chicken, turkey, pork, lamb, grass-fed beef, as well as fish, tofu and, yes, eggs for proteins.

Along with a change in your diet, regular exercise is a major part of any weight loss programme. Staying active can be challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is necessary.

“Treating obesity helps not only with COVID 19, but with so many chronic diseases and comorbidities. There isn’t a single other condition we can treat that makes a difference in so many parts of the body simultaneously,” she says.

Source-Medindia