Food market ‘shares blame’ for severity of COVID-19 pandemic
As evidence mounts that overweight and obese people are in much greater threat of developing life threatening COVID-19 consequences, public health professionals have called on manufacturers to stop promoting the consumption of calorie laden food and drinks.
Authoring in the BMJ, researchers at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Drugs, part of Queen Mary University of London in britain, argue that COVID-19 is “yet yet another health problem exacerbated by the obesity pandemic.”
Within an editorial, they cite evidence that persons who are overweight or obese are more likely to develop serious infections of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that triggers COVID-19.
One study found that even after considering factors such as years, sex, ethnicity, and community deprivation, being overweight increased the relative threat of developing a lifestyle threatening infection by 44%. Obesity elevated the relative risk by 97%.
“It is now crystal clear that the food industry shares the blame not merely for the obesity pandemic also for the severe nature of COVID-19 disease and its own devastating implications,” write Ph.D. researcher Monique Tan, and professors Feng J. He, and Graham A. MacGregor in the editorial.
Perfect storm
Worldwide, more than 1.9 billion adults had been overweight or obese in 2016, and that number is increasing rapidly. Latest figures present that the prevalence of obese and weight problems among adults has reached 64% in the U.K. and 72% in america.
Health specialists recognize obesity due to a substantial risk factor for superior blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cancer.
Within their editorial, the scientists write that several different mechanisms could take into account the increased severity of COVID-19 among overweight and obese people.
For example, persons with obesity have more angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE-2), the membrane-bound enzyme that the virus uses to get entry to cells.
Whether this fact is because of their fat cells producing considerably more of the enzyme, or simply due to having extra adipose, or fat safe-keeping, tissue, isn't yet clear.
“The adipose tissue of men and women with obesity may, therefore, be considered a potential target and viral reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 before it spreads to additional organs, as has became the case for various other viruses,” the researchers write.
The high blood circulation pressure, high cholesterol amounts, and diabetes that doctors associate with obesity are also suspects in making persons with COVID-19 more susceptible to the infection.
In addition, it could increase the probability of the excessive innate immune response or “cytokine storm” that triggers harm to the lungs and other organs of critically ill people.
Moreover, obesity creates increased resistance in patients’ airways, making it more challenging to expand their lungs and, thus, reducing lung function.
Call for action
The Wolfson Institute scientists demand that there surely is now tougher action to combat obesity.
“Food industries all over the world needs to immediately give up promoting, and governments must force reformulation of processed foods and refreshments,” they write.
They accuse some food manufacturers of “thinly veiled tactics, using the outbreak as a marketing prospect.”
As an example, they cite Krispy Kreme’s Serving Smiles initiative in the U.K., which engaged donating half of a million doughnuts to “the amazing heroes operating so difficult in the fight against COVID-19,” including those employed in hospitals.
The authors claim governments have not finished enough to tackle obesity within their populations, apart from taxes on sweet drinks that some countries, including the U.K., have imposed.
Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com
