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Every human in the United States can attest that COVID-19 has changed our way of life. In addition to shining a light on the prevalence of racial and ethnic disparities, socioeconomic status, and weight status on outcomes in COVID-19, the pandemic is driving food insecurity to an all-time high.
Food insecurity is a disruption in food intake or eating patterns because of lack of money and other resources. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) divides food insecurity into two categories:
One of the first studies to address the full spectrum of eating disorders in people living with food insecurity was published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders in 2017. In this study, participants with the highest level of food insecurity experienced:
A 2020 study in Eating Disorders points to high levels of dietary restraint in racially and ethnically diverse, low-income urban populations. The primary reasons people reported holding back on eating were:
Unfortunately, in the wake of COVID-19, unemployment rates are higher than those at the peak of the Great Depression. With this rise in unemployment, consistent access to nutritious food is elusive for many people. Food banks throughout the country are seeing higher rates of attendance than ever before.
As a woman who was raised serving as a worker in the food bank at my home church in Atlanta, I am encouraged by my parents’ consistent service as the leads of this food bank. They show up every week to make sure the hundreds of families that need food receive food, despite their fears of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted the Black community — especially those over the age of 65 like themselves. They show up because they care, but they realize that their efforts will likely fall short of solving food insecurity in their community. Only a coordinated multi-sector approach can solve this issue.
One public sector approach is the current HEROES bill, which has provisions to address food insecurity, as discussed in a recent blog post. But whether or not a fully-funded HEROES bill becomes law, we must address the role of food insecurity in eating disorders. The research is clear: food insecurity is linked to eating disorders that undermine health. Food insecurity has intensified in the middle of the most significant pandemic of our lifetime, COVID-19. Racial and ethnic minorities continue to face the brunt of the compounded issues of food insecurity, COVID-19, disordered eating, and excess weight. Indeed, food insecurity has increased since 1999 to affect about 20% of the US adult population. We must remain vigilant in efforts to address the intersectionality of these major issues, which have a tremendous impact on the health and well-being of our communities.
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The post Food insecurity, COVID-19, and eating disorders appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.
As you've been reading here and in much of the latest COVID-19 news, vitamin D plays a unique and crucial role in supporting your immune system and protecting you against severe disease. However, what many experts appear to forget is that it is not a "cure-all."
Many are searching for a single answer to the pandemic, which may be why they are hesitant to consider vitamin D. It's clear from years of scientific evidence that vitamin D plays a vital role in your health, and while data show that those with higher serum levels have a lower risk of severe disease, making sure your levels are adequate is one of the simplest, easiest and most cost-effective ways you can protect your health.
A recent population study from Israel, published in the FEBS Journal, adds to the mounting body of evidence that demonstrates vitamin D plasma levels are an independent indicator of the risk for infection and hospitalization from COVID-19.1 Researchers studied 14,000 members of a health service who were tested for the virus from February 1, 2020, to April 30, 2020.
They identified suboptimal or low plasma levels as concentrations below 30 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL). Within the study group, 10.1% tested positive for COVID-19 and 89.9% were negative.
The data showed that the mean plasma vitamin D level in those who tested positive was significantly lower than in those who tested negative. The association with a low plasma level increased the likelihood of infection and the risk of hospitalization.
Additionally, the data showed other comorbid conditions that raised the risk of infection included age (50 years and older), being male and having low to medium socioeconomic status. Those who were 50 and older had a higher risk of hospitalization. Dr. Eugene Merzon, leader of the study, commented:2
"The main finding of our study was the significant association of low plasma vitamin D level with the likelihood of COVID-19 infection among patients who were tested for COVID-19, even after adjustment for age, gender, socio-economic status and chronic, mental and physical disorders.
Furthermore, low vitamin D level was associated with the risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19 infection, although this association wasn't significant after adjustment for other factors."
Merzon advised that the amount of vitamin D should be "personalized, with patients' age, gender, race and ethnicity, nutritional status and health condition taken into account."3
The results of the study were also published in Medscape Medical News. A member of the research team, Milana Frenkel-Morgenstern, Ph.D., said the results indicated that clinicians should "test patients' vitamin D levels and keep them optimal for the overall health — as well as for a better immuno-response to COVID-19."4
Optimizing your vitamin D levels may be the most accessible way to take control of your health — it's easily accomplished, cost effective and has a long line of research to back its reputation as an infection fighter.
A study published in the Irish Medical Journal noted that people living in southern latitude countries that normally received sun, such as Spain and Northern Italy, had low mean concentrations of vitamin D and the highest infection and death rates in Europe.5 Medscape Medical News notes these countries do not fortify their food or suggest that people should take vitamin D supplements.6 The researchers concluded:7
"Optimising vitamin D status to recommendations by national and international public health agencies will certainly have benefits for bone health and potential benefits for Covid-19. There is a strong plausible biological hypothesis and evolving epidemiological data supporting a role for vitamin D in Covid-19."
Results from further research have demonstrated that a person's serum vitamin D level is predictive of their disease severity. In a study from England, data were collected from 134 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 and had serum vitamin D levels drawn when they were admitted to the hospital.8
The researchers found that the mean levels were comparable between those in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and those treated in the medical unit. However, those in the ICU were more likely to have a deficiency. Interestingly, there was no association with fatalities, which the researchers theorize had to do with the prompt diagnosis and treatment of vitamin D deficiency after admission.
In one review paper, researchers concluded that those at risk for influenza and/or COVID-19 should consider administration of 10,000 IU/d of vitamin D3 to quickly raise concentrations with the goal of reaching 40 ng/mL to 60 ng/mL.9 In a retrospective study involving 212 patients with confirmed COVID-19, the data showed a correlation between vitamin D and disease severity.10
GrassrootsHealth defines the lower edge of an optimal vitamin D level as 40 ng/mL.11 As I've written before, I believe to improve your immune function and lower your risk of viral infections, you'll want to raise your vitamin D to a level between 60 ng/mL and 80 ng/mL (150 nmol/L and 200 nmol/L).
A team of scientists from Indonesia found that "Vitamin D status is strongly associated with COVID-19 mortality outcome …"12 In yet another study posted on the preprint portal Medrxiv, Northwestern University researchers found a correlation between severe vitamin D deficiency and higher mortality rates in countries around the globe.13
This is just an example of data being gathered and published that show there is a strong correlation between vitamin D levels and the risk of infection and the severity of disease. Some experts warn that observational studies, in which researchers gather data and observe an effect without changing the environment, limit the ability to use the data.14
The concern is that observational data cannot rule out other factors that may explain the results. Yet, despite the fact there may be other confounding factors, it's vital to realize that data have been gathered in multiple countries, in multiple studies, and all the results are pointing in the same direction.
As some challenge the mounting evidence that vitamin D may contribute to changing the course of the disease, mainstream media are catching on to the evidence from science.
USA Today ran an article in June in which they gave an explanation of the importance of vitamin D to the immune system, how it affects the innate and adaptive immune system and the role it may play in COVID-19.15
Although they also point out the limitations of observational studies, the reporter included the high number of people who are deficient and wrote, "Most commonly, low levels of vitamin D are caused by insufficient exposure to sunlight."
A piece in The New York Times covered several of the studies that associated low vitamin D with greater disease severity and two studies using the same data that were not as positive.16 In the negative studies, the association disappeared after the data were adjusted for age, race and obesity. An "ask-the-doctor" piece in Today reported mixed opinions.17
Dr. JoAnn Manson from Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital believes the observational studies demonstrate the potential that vitamin D is beneficial. She is organizing a randomized clinical trial to test vitamin D in relation to the severity of COVID-19.
Conversely, private practice internal medicine physician Dr. Pieter Cohen "strongly discourages people from getting a vitamin D blood test right now."18 He adds:
"We don't recommend vitamin D to our patients and I see no credible evidence that vitamin D has a role in either preventing or treating COVID-19. We might have evidence in the future that evolves and would change our opinion, but that's the status here."
Manson has a more balanced view, saying:19
"We also know that vitamin D has an immune-modulating effect and can lower inflammation, and this may be relevant to the respiratory response during COVID-19 and the cytokine storm that's been demonstrated."
She recommends:20
"For patients who are unable to be outdoors and also have low dietary intake of vitamin D, it's quite reasonable to consider a vitamin D supplement. The recommended dietary allowance of vitamin D is 600-800 IU/daily, but during this period, a multivitamin or supplement containing 1000-2000 IU/daily of vitamin D would be reasonable."
I strongly believe that vitamin D optimization is a powerful and beneficial strategy to protect your health. In my free report on vitamin D I've developed a resource you can use to share and help educate others. The only way you’ll know your vitamin D level is to test it. GrassrootsHealth has a home test kit that is simple to use and provides you with results at home.21
You’ll find a calculator at GrassrootsHealth.net that will help you use your current weight, serum level and daily supplement intake to estimate how much vitamin D3 you need to reach your desired vitamin D level.22 Yet, while crucial, it’s not the only thing available to help protect your health.
I believe it is highly important to become metabolically flexible to help reduce the severity of a COVID-19 infection. The single most important step to attaining and maintaining metabolic flexibility is to reduce the number of hours during the day in which you eat.
When you do this, you decrease insulin resistance. In my book Fat for Fuel I discuss how to become metabolically flexible, including using intermittent fasting and cyclical nutritional ketosis.
The use of molecular hydrogen is another strategy, as it's a powerful antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory agent. Using quercetin with zinc can further lower your risk. Quercetin acts as a zinc ionophore23 and has its own antiviral effects.24
If you are hospitalized, early treatment is essential. There is controversy over which is best, but clinical evidence has suggested mechanical ventilation should be avoided. I discuss the reasons for this in "Ventilators May Increase Risk of Death From COVID-19."
One of the best treatments today is the MATH+ Protocol, first developed by the Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance.25 It's designed to be used when someone is hospitalized and needs supplemental oxygen. You'll find further information about each of these strategies in "How to Fix the COVID-19 Crisis in 30 Days."
1 Mercola.com recently celebrated its ____ anniversary.
Thankfully, we've been able to reach hundreds of millions of people throughout the years. And although we've made improvements to the functionality and design of the site, its goal remains the same: to offer practical health solutions and tools that will help people take control of their health. Learn more.
2 COVID-19 patients given a combination of vitamin D, magnesium and vitamin B12 were significantly less likely to:
Significant benefits were seen among the DMB group, with only 17.6% requiring initiation of oxygen therapy during their hospitalization, compared to 61.5% of those in the control group. The requirement for oxygen is associated with an increased risk of needing intensive care, and the DMB group also benefitted in this area. Learn more.
3 Health officials in several countries have issued guidelines for safer sex during the pandemic. These include:
Guidelines for safer sex during the pandemic include wearing a mask, avoiding kissing, sticking to masturbation and having sex online, even though this means every encounter will be indefinitely stored and could end your career if hacked or shared. Learn more.
4 Evidence suggests the COVID-19 pandemic may be part of a larger plan to usher in:
Evidence suggests the COVID-19 pandemic may be part of a larger plan to usher in technocracy — a resource-based economic system in which energy and social engineering run the economy rather than pricing mechanisms such as supply and demand. Learn more.
5 Which of the following is a key culprit in the rise of obesity and chronic diseases that in turn worsen the risk of death from COVID-19?
Processed foods, junk foods and soft drinks are key culprits in the rise of obesity and chronic diseases that in turn increase the likelihood of death from COVID-19. Learn more.
6 According to an analysis by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research Quality of health data collected from 376,452 individuals who received a total of 1.4 million doses of 45 vaccines, vaccine injuries occur in:
According to an analysis by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research Quality, 1 in 40 people are injured by vaccines. Learn more.
7 Which of the following errors were routinely occurring at Elmhurst Hospital Center in New York, thereby increasing the COVID-19 death toll?
Elmhurst Hospital routinely treated COVID-negative patients as positive, placed noninfected and infected patients in the same room, and put COVID-19 patients on mechanical ventilation even though it was known to increase the risk of death. Learn more.
For the past two decades, my mission has been to help you take control of your health. Recent developments now threaten my ability to do that. July 21, 2020, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) issued a press release1 and testified in a Senate hearing on the topic of COVID-19 scams.
The press release contained lies, fabrications and a reckless disregard for truth in an attempt to put an end to me and this website.
Additionally, in an August 12, 2020, email, CSPI president Dr. Peter Lurie2 — a former FDA associate commissioner — claims I'm "profiting from the pandemic" through "anti-vaccine fearmongering" and reporting of science-based nutrition shown to impact your disease risk. According to Lurie:
"Mercola brazenly has claimed that many of his products are coronavirus treatments or cures, including vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc, selenium, 'molecular hydrogen,' licorice, and other substances.
Besides profiting from the pandemic, Mercola has seemingly advised people to contract COVID-19 after taking supposedly 'immunity boosting' supplements (which of course he sells). Making matters worse, Mercola is a leading proponent of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories — and has been fearmongering against prospective COVID-19 vaccines even before such vaccines are available!"
CSPI is now urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission "to bring enforcement proceedings against Mercola and his companies for their unlawful disease claims that falsely and misleadingly claim to treat, cure or prevent COVID-19 infections."
Lurie is asking CSPI members to flood these agencies with prewritten Tweets urging them to take action against us. You may have been one of the people who received this urging if you made the mistake of subscribing to their irresponsibly misleading organization.
Conveniently omitting the fact that I am a board-certified physician, the CSPI falsely claims I am promoting "at least 22 vitamins, supplements and other products" available on my website as being able to "prevent, treat or cure COVID-19 infection."
These are some pretty hefty accusations to make, but luckily CSPI has provided an Appendix of Illegal Claims to easily verify the evidence they've uncovered, which you can view here.3 According to Lurie, I make COVID-19 claims for products such as Fermented Licorice Powder sold in the Mercola Market.4
You won't find any claims as Lurie says, because they don't exist. He is either delusional or lying. In CSPI's listing for Solspring brand Fermented Licorice Powder in the Appendix, CSPI provides a link to an article about the benefits of glycyrrhizin, a compound found in licorice.
The article contains nine references to scientific journals, including The Lancet. What is not found in this article? Product advertisements or references to fermented licorice powder of any kind, let alone the Solspring brand.
Here's what The Lancet had to say about licorice: "Of all the compounds, glycyrrhizin was the most active in inhibiting replication of the SARS-associated virus."
Is this newsworthy to you? Do you find it interesting and relevant? Do you see any product ads on this page? Can you find any mention of "fermented licorice powder" on this page, as Lurie claims? No. That's a complete lie and fabrication.
Each product listed in the CSPI Appendix goes through the same bogus rearrangement of information, grabbing a snippet from a newsletter article and falsely applying it to a completely unrelated product advertisement. In reality, no product claims are made in the articles, and no COVID-19 claims are made on any product pages found at the Mercola Market.
So, just what sort of intentional misrepresentation is going on here? What kind of legal charlatan would do something so reckless? It just so happens CSPI is the right charlatan for this con-job.
For the last 23 years, I've fought against putting neurotoxic fluoride in the water. I was one of the first doctors to alert the world about the dangers of Vioxx, which killed more than 60,000 patients before it was finally withdrawn from the market. I've campaigned against GMO's and toxic agrichemicals, funding the original signature gathering to get GMO labeling in California in 2012.
For over a decade, I've funded the battle to end the use of mercury dental fillings worldwide. I've warned against the overuse of antibiotics in human medicine and the dangers of consuming them in CAFO meats.
I've funded research and was one of the first physician journalists to bring major awareness to the hazards of vitamin D deficiency. I'm now rallying public awareness of the importance to optimize vitamin D to minimize COVID-19 risks.
This public health advocacy has created an army of well-funded adversaries. They've attacked me using expensive PR groups and mass media, captured federal regulatory agencies and pharmaceutical front groups in an attempt to silence and discredit me.
Never before have Americans been exposed to such a coordinated assortment of lies and censorship. The brainwashing, social media surveillance, coercion and destruction of dissenters are accelerating. For a comprehensive overview of this New World Order, an empire built and run by billionaires, see my "Ghost in the Machine" article series.
Who bankrolls CSPI? Major hint, the general public plays a very tiny role in their funding. According to Influence Watch:5
"In 2017 CSPI's received 37.6% ($5.3 million) of its revenue from membership dues and subscriptions to its Nutrition Action Healthletter. CSPI also took in 35.6% ($5 million) of its funding from contributions, and 15% ($2.2 million) of its revenue from foundational grants.
A number of foundations have given money to CSPI, among them the Rockefeller Family Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the Tides Foundation, the Public Welfare Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, and Bloomberg Philanthropies."
CSPI has also partnered with Bill Gates' agrichemical PR group, the Cornell Alliance for Science. In fact, Greg Jaffe, who heads up CSPI's Biotechnology Project, is also the Alliance for Science associate director of legal affairs.6
For years, CSPI fought against your right to know the truth about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in your food, saying GMO labels would be "misleading."7
Apparently, they think GMO soy and corn drenched in toxic pesticides are in the public's best interest, and they see no problem with synthetic fertilizer runoff poisoning fresh water supplies, or draining aquifers for irrigation.
Ironically, the top human ingredients from the genetically engineered products are high fructose corn syrup and vegetable oil. CSPI should likely change the name of the 'Nutrition Action' newsletter that competes with my own.
As if that isn't enough, starting in the late 1980s, CSPI championed harmful trans fats,8 a tragically misguided yet thoroughly effective campaign that resulted in epidemic levels of heart disease. In fact, they celebrated their victory of converting Americans away from healthy saturated fats to trans fats, calling it "a great boon to Americans' arteries."9
It was largely the result of CSPI's campaign that fast-food restaurants replaced beef tallow, palm oil and coconut oil with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which are high in synthetic trans fats linked to heart disease and other chronic diseases.
As late as 1988, CSPI praised trans fats, saying "there is little good evidence that trans fats cause any more harm than other fats" and that "much of the anxiety over trans fats stems from their reputation as 'unnatural.'"10
CSPI is also heavily funded by the American Heart Association,11 a group that in 1948 received a gift of $1.75 million from Procter & Gamble,12 the makers of Crisco, the top trans fat sold for decades. The cash bonanza, thanks to a radio contest, gave the 24-year-old AHA a solid footing to buy its way into America as one of the country's most influential health organizations from then, on.
If that were not enough, today the AHA is funded in part by pharmaceutical companies making statins that fight the damage caused by trans fat,13,14 such as Pfizer, maker of Lipitor, which in 2011 was the world's top-selling drug.15 In 2018-2019, Pfizer gifted the AHA with a hefty $824,595. Novartis, which also makes statins, gave the AHA a whopping $3.4 million that same year.
And, back to where we started with CSPI, in its 2018 Form 990 the AHA reports that it gave CSPI $49,500 in cash.16 This, despite the fact that in 2003 CSPI published a report on lifting the veil of secrecy on how agencies like itself are funded — at the time, proudly declaring that CSPI doesn't accept industry funding.17
I guess they think you don't have to count it as industry money if you're accepting that money from a major nonprofit that got its money from corporate and industry dollars. You can't make this stuff up — it is hard to come up with groups that have had a more devastating impact on Americans' health than the AHA — and CSPI is partly funded by it.
In 2003, the Weston A. Price Foundation rightfully questioned whether CSPI might actually be promoting the interests of the soy industry rather than public health:18
"It is impossible to measure the hazards and grief … the leaders of the major nutrition 'activist' consumer organization have inflicted on many millions of an unknowing public — because CSPI's campaign was wildly successful.
Thanks to CSPI, healthy traditional fats have almost completely disappeared from the food supply, replaced by manufactured trans fats known to cause many diseases.
By 1990, most fast food chains had switched to partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. In 1982, a McDonald's meal of chicken McNuggets, large order of fries and a Danish or pie contained 2.4 grams of trans fat, out of a total of 54 grams of fat. In 1992, that same meal contained 19.2 grams trans fats, a 700 percent increase ...
Who benefits? Soy, or course. Eighty percent of all partially hydrogenated oil used in processed foods in the US comes from soy, as does 70 percent of all liquid oil.
CSPI claims that its [financial] support comes from subscribers to its Nutrition Action newsletter ... but in fact, in CSPI's January 1991 newsletter, Jacobson notes that 'our effort was ultimately joined … by the American Soybean Association.'"
Today, you'll have to dig deep to unearth CSPI's deadly campaign. In an act of deception, they erased it from their history to make people believe they've been doing the right thing all along. Notice how their historical timeline19 of trans fat starts at 1993 — the year CSPI realized the jig was up and they had to support the elimination of trans fat.
As reported in my 2015 article, "Did CSPI Kill Millions by Recommending Trans Fats?" CSPI rigorously campaigned for trans fat prior to 1993, resulting in an avalanche of ill health. (Should I mention that in December 1993 the AHA wrote in the journal Circulation that they didn't believe Americans consumed enough trans fat to have a major effect on their LDL and HDL levels?20)
Post 1993, CSPI spent the next two decades raising funds to lobby against the very same trans fat they'd once promoted. Perhaps CSPI is just angry because I won't let them get away with hiding their deadly history.
For years, CSPI has worked "in the public's interest" in name only. Now, they're attacking your right to be informed about the potential benefits of nutritional supplements and how you can bolster your immune system, thus minimizing your risk of COVID-19 and other infections.
My articles report published science. There's scientific support for discussing the benefits of certain nutrients and inexpensive treatments against COVID-19 and other viral illnesses. It's not pure speculation, it's not fake news and it's not a danger to public health, as CSPI would like everyone to believe.
CSPI's campaign in the 80's switched Americans onto heart disease causing trans fats. CSPI fought against your right to know GMO's, and is partnered with Bill Gates' agrichemical PR group - Alliance for Science. CPSI wants vitamins and supplements banned, and is trying to bring an end to the mercola.com website.
Please share the truth about this dangerous group that is bankrolled by billionaires. Email, tweet, text and share by any method possible and help expose the CSPI lies.
