At present, during this current pandemic of COVID-19, no effective preventive and curative medicine is currently available. Subsequently, a healthy immune system is considered paramount and therapies addressing the immunopathology of the infection have become a major focus.

There are a number of nutrients which are essential for the normal functioning of the immune system, of which probiotics have shown effectiveness for treatment and prevention of viral infections as well as a supportive role in enhancing immune response⁽¹⁾ and this will be discussed in more detail below.

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There has been a lot of discussion in the media lately about a cytokine storm. This is referring to an inflammatory response to an insult such, as a pathogen or injury, to which the immune system overreacts and runs out of control. It has been well documented that the severity and increased risk of death of COVID-19 is associated with a cytokine storm, where inflammation runs away and therefore the body’s own inflammatory response becomes more dangerous than the infection itself. The main problems are therefore not brought about by the virus itself, but by the extreme immunological response in some people to the ineffective organisms.

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Musculoskeletal disease is a broad term which encompasses many different conditions that can affect the bones, joints, tendons, ligaments and muscles. Conditions include osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, sarcopenia and many more. Symptoms can range from stiffness, pain, swelling, joint deformity and restricted movement.

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Are you a nutritional or health professional working hard to recommend individualised dietary protocols for each of your clients? Maybe you have tried a food regime or which worked wonders for one of your loved ones – mother, aunt, sister – but did not achieve the same results for the other members of your family? Consider this, does everyone in your family wear the same shoe size? The problem is – one size may not fit all – this rule applies to both shoes and our nutrition.

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During this anxious and difficult time we are trying to keep you up to date with emerging research about useful interventions for protecting health and supporting immunity. Our previous blog has highlighted nutrients that have been considered important for protecting against infections. Research is currently emerging with the nutrients vitamin D and selenium at the forefront. Population groups which are most likely to be severely affected by Covid-19 are also most likely to be deficient in vitamin D and selenium.

Of course this can, on the surface, be attributed to coincidence and other factors, but this blog aims to describe the functions of both nutrients which play an essential role in immune function, reduced risk of infection and supporting lung health.

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