by Milene Brownlow, PhD Overview We are beginning to understand the wide-ranging impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on multiple facets of life. The outbreak that started late in 2019 was officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and sent most of the world’s population into confinement. Beyond healthcare, this pandemic has drastically altered life as we know it. Originally presented in the form of pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan, China, it has since been determined that…

by Michael Stanclift, ND Introduction Expectant mothers may find some reassurance in recent evidence suggesting COVID-19 infection during pregnancy doesn’t appear to pose the same dangers as related viral infections (e.g. SARS, MERS).1 Pregnant women contracting COVID-19 must still be cautious about their and their developing babies’ health, especially since treatment options are more limited during pregnancy; however, documented cases give us some insight into the short-term effects. As with all things related to COVID-19, the data is still emerging,…

As the current pandemic rages on, several hundred clinical trials are recruiting and ongoing hoping to identify efficacious antiviral and anti-inflammatory strategies. In a new commentary published in the journal Cancer Metastasis and Reviews (Springer Nature publishing group),1 a group of prominent researchers proposed a promising, complementary direction worthy of consideration: targeting inflammation resolution. Who contributed to this commentary? The article was led by Dipak Panigrahy, MD, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center of Harvard Medical School, who has had…

by Lewis Chang, PhD Introduction Fun fact: Just like us humans, oysters have a sense of hearing and dislike noises. Researchers from France and Morocco conducted an experiment by exposing oysters (in this case, Pacific oysters; n=16) to different noises emitted from underwater loudspeakers and recorded shell movements using sensors attached to the shells. Within a minute these shellfish would shut their shells, particularly when hearing low-frequency noises.1 Food fact: Oysters have the highest amount of the mineral zinc per…

by Bianca Garilli, ND, IFMCP, USMC Veteran Introduction SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) began its destructive path in China in late 2019 and spread, quite literally, across the globe at speeds faster than most could have ever imagined. Worldwide, the COVID-19 virus has left (at the time of this writing) over 190,000 people dead, and nearly 2.7 million infected based on the limited testing that most countries have employed. And the trajectory of the global curve is still uncertain. The fight is real,…

by Lewis Chang, PhD Introduction A quick search on ClinicalTrials.gov identified, as of this writing, 58 quercetin-related clinical intervention studies that are currently ongoing (19) or have been completed (39). Diverse health conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes, endothelial dysfunction, dyslipidemia, stroke, hepatitis C, acid reflux, inflammation, and oxidative stress, are the subject of interest. And in recent days quercetin’s role in immune health is getting a lot of attention as well. So what exactly is…

by Michael Stanclift, ND Introduction While vaccines and targeted therapies are in development for the treatment of COVID-19, some researchers are looking to known natural molecules as therapeutic agents. Two promising treatments for COVID-19, hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, are derivatives of naturally occurring substances. Some researchers are interested in a compound from green tea with antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties. Chemists looking at computer models of the virus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19 believe epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) from green tea will have high…

COVID-19 April 6, 2020 Update On April 2nd, the number of COVID-19 cases reached 1 million worldwide. The US currently has over 300,000 reported cases, more than any other country in the world. Amid the uncertainty around the pandemic, the US is also learning so much more about the novel coronavirus. Epidemiologists and infectious disease experts recently published what they had learned based on existing data in JAMA Viewpoint. Below are some of the highlights.1 How does SARS-CoV-2 spread? The…

by Michael Stanclift, ND Vitamin C helps with immune system function, but due to its ubiquity, it is often underappreciated clinically. With the current COVID-19 pandemic clinicians are in search of clinical tools that are relatively easy to acquire, safe, and effective. Vitamin C (AKA ascorbic acid/ascorbate) plays an important role in immune function with Swiss Army knife-like utility. We are one of the rare animals that lack the ability to make vitamin C within our body, so we must…

COVID-19 April 2, 2020 Update Currently, the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection heavily relies on RT-PCR-based viral RNA detection method. Although the test has high sensitivity (i.e., true positive rate), there are challenges with the test that may cause delay of a confirmed diagnosis, thereby impacting timing of treatment and ability to control further spread of the virus. Here are some variables: Test sample collected at different stage of infection: The viral RNA test has high sensitivity in the early stage…