Fruits and Vegetables Reduce Risk of Severe COVID-19 by 40%

Infection Risk Also Down 10%... Eat Oily Fish and Minimize Processed Foods

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[Asia Economy Senior Reporter Jinsoo Lee] People who enjoy fruits and vegetables are significantly less likely to develop severe symptoms even if they become infected with COVID-19 compared to those who do not.

Researchers at King's College London, a public university in the UK, recently reported in a study published on the medical preprint site medRxiv that people who consume a lot of fruits and vegetables have a lower probability of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms compared to those who do not.

The researchers surveyed 600,000 volunteers about their typical diet before the COVID-19 outbreak. They then categorized the volunteers into five groups based on the healthiness of their diets. Over the following nine months, they monitored COVID-19 infection status and severity.

As a result, it was found that people who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables had a 40% lower chance of becoming severely ill with COVID-19 requiring hospitalization and medical oxygen compared to those who did not. The likelihood of becoming infected with COVID-19 was also found to be 10% lower.

The researchers concluded that a good diet includes consuming two pieces of fruit and three different types of vegetables daily. Volunteers relying on a healthy diet ate 200g of oily fish such as salmon and sardines weekly and minimized processed foods high in fat and sugar.

In contrast, an unhealthy diet was defined as eating less than two pieces of fruit per week and not eating vegetables at all for several days a week. Volunteers on such diets avoided oily fish and consumed more processed foods than recommended.

Professor Tim Spector, a genetic epidemiologist at King's College London, said, "You don't necessarily have to be a vegetarian," but added, "However, a plant-based diet can strengthen the body's immune system and reduce the likelihood of COVID-19 infection." He further noted, "Those who follow a healthy diet low in processed foods also tend to have beneficial gut microbiota."

Meanwhile, another study found that drinking at least 2 to 3 cups of coffee daily reduces the risk of contracting COVID-19 by about 10%.

Researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois, USA, recently published in the international nutrition journal Nutrients that coffee consumption appears to help prevent COVID-19. They added that this effect seems to apply even to some individuals exposed to COVID-19. It is presumed that the health-promoting phytochemicals in coffee strengthen the body's immune system.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.