BajaNomad

Probiotics Might Help Ward Off COVID-19

RFClark - 1-6-2024 at 02:23 PM

With the winter increase in cases this might be of interest to all!


TUESDAY, Dec. 19, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Probiotics might be able to help people dodge the worst effects of COVID-19, new clinical trial results show.

Unvaccinated people who took a lactobacillus-laced probiotic had reduced COVID symptoms and even delayed infection, researchers report in the January issue of the journal Clinical Nutrition.

The study suggests probiotics could be a simple and inexpensive way to treat folks who’ve been exposed to COVID, researchers said.

Probiotics are designed to boost the beneficial bacteria and yeasts that live inside the body, primarily the gastrointestinal tract.

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2023-12-19/...

How about hot chili?

AKgringo - 1-6-2024 at 02:40 PM

I find myself craving chili peppers during cold and flu season, is my body trying to tell me something?

Probiotics reduce COVID symptoms and delay disease among unvaccinated

RFClark - 1-6-2024 at 02:55 PM

The finding could be a timely intervention as COVID-tracking data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show hospital admissions and deaths on the rise in the U.S. at the same time holiday celebrations will bring people together. Additionally, fewer than 20% of the U.S. population has received the 2023 updated COVID vaccine, according to the most recent CDC data.

"Prior to COVID, there was strong evidence that probiotics were protective against respiratory infections," said Paul Wischmeyer, M.D., associate vice chair for clinical research in Duke's Department of Anesthesiology and co-lead author of the study published in Clinical Nutrition. "Once COVID hit, it was imperative to determine whether this simple, well-tolerated intervention could be useful. Our study provides encouraging evidence for the use of probiotics."

I’ll look into chili peppers too!

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-12-probiotics-covid-symp...

Antioxidant, Anti-Obesity, Nutritional and Other Beneficial Effects of Different Chili Pepper: A Review

RFClark - 1-6-2024 at 02:59 PM

“Fruits and vegetables are important components of a healthy diet. They are rich sources of vitamins and minerals, dietary fibre and a host of beneficial non-nutrient substances including plant sterols, flavonoids and other antioxidants. It has been reported that reduced intake of fruits and vegetables may increase the risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Chili pepper, is a common and important spice used to enhance taste and nutrition. Over the years, reports have shown its potential as antioxidant and an anti-obesity agent. Obesity is a serious health concern as it may initiate other common chronic diseases. Due to the side effects of synthetic antioxidants and anti-obesity drugs, scientists are now focusing on natural products which produce similar effects to synthetic chemicals. This up-to-date review addresses this research gap and presents, in an accessible format, the nutritional, antioxidant and anti-obesity properties of different chili peppers. This review article serves as a reference guide for use of chili peppers as anti-obesity agents.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8839052/#:~:tex...

OSG, It helps with Dementia too!

RFClark - 1-6-2024 at 03:02 PM

I have taken them for years, you should give them a try!

David K - 1-6-2024 at 03:47 PM

General Baja (Lower) has a whole new purpose it seems!

Lee - 1-6-2024 at 08:10 PM

Quote: Originally posted by RFClark  
I have taken them for years, you should give them a try!


Ditto. Great thread Clark. This stuff is really important.

Got h. pylori in Baja years ago tested endo/colon and then triple antibiotics for weeks, more testing. Only stomach bug that will become cancer. Intense ab pain and repeated burping no air coming up.

Kefir most days now. Think Kombucha is an option and sauerkraut, kimchi.

surfhat - 1-6-2024 at 09:07 PM

Does one really expect any forum member to take the advice on personal medical matters from certain poster and posers, on this site?

Is this what Nomad has become?

The surgeon general of Fla. just declared the covid mania a hoax. How did such an ignoramus ever become the voice of health regulation in Fla?

I will bet some here will agree with Fla.'s surgeon general who came to his exalted position, just how? His medical history in Africa?

Yes, I know the continent is made up of individual sovereign nations.

How did this forum become a haven for mis and dis information?

Who ya gonna trust? What is damn sure is, my choices will not be influenced by any posters here. I will rely upon the medical professionals over the actors who mistakenly think they have something of value to add. They do not.

With a trip planned next month I will be updating my covid booster this month from over a year ago and a RSV vaccine for good measure.

You do you. So be it.



mtgoat666 - 1-6-2024 at 10:03 PM

Quote: Originally posted by surfhat  
Does one really expect any forum member to take the advice on personal medical matters from certain poster and posers, on this site?

Is this what Nomad has become?

The surgeon general of Fla. just declared the covid mania a hoax. How did such an ignoramus ever become the voice of health regulation in Fla?

I will bet some here will agree with Fla.'s surgeon general who came to his exalted position, just how? His medical history in Africa?

Yes, I know the continent is made up of individual sovereign nations.

How did this forum become a haven for mis and dis information?

Who ya gonna trust? What is damn sure is, my choices will not be influenced by any posters here. I will rely upon the medical professionals over the actors who mistakenly think they have something of value to add. They do not.

With a trip planned next month I will be updating my covid booster this month from over a year ago and a RSV vaccine for good measure.

You do you. So be it.



It is absurd that right wing has become anti-science. And a shame that americans, who used to be quite smart, have decided that if science/facts disagree with their politics, they declare the facts to be lies and the scientists to be liars. America is lost, gone, just a bunch of religious idiots and quacks.

RFClark - 1-6-2024 at 10:50 PM

Posting topical information is not “giving medical advice”. In fact up until recently the US medical community generally has presented probiotics as “useless or even bad for you”. Suddenly a few years ago a link between dementia and the mix of bacteria living in people’s guts was discovered. Since then a relationship has been established to other conditions and now to COVID.

Surfhat,

You might want to read the papers written by medical professionals that the articles are about before you trash them. Your response sounds remarkable closed minded and even “political”! (Gasp!)

Full disclosure, I’ve had all my COVID shots and booster plus Flu and RSV shots as well. Politics doesn’t enter into it.

pauldavidmena - 1-7-2024 at 10:14 AM

Taken at face value, the subject line "Probiotics Might Help Ward Off COVID-19" doesn't really bother me. Probiotics are good for a lot of things, and chances are people who use them have other healthy habits that would minimize the chances of infection. I do get concerned when gullible people infer that probiotics or any other COVID preventative popularized on YouTube, TikTok, etc., are superior to vaccines. I will note that the OP was careful not to say this.

Two of my sons have refused to get vaccinated, one of whom has been experiencing long COVID symptoms for over 2 years. His employer, a pizza parlor in NY, did not mandate vaccination. My youngest son, a roofer, defied a vaccine mandate established by his company and was fired. His next company didn't have that policy. My middle son, an Army reservist, didn't have the option. He had a bad case of COVID early on - pre-vaccine - and by the time the mandates came along he eagerly rolled up his sleeve.

Like surfat, I received my booster a few weeks before the holidays, with no side effects. Better yet, no COVID so far, but I did see both of my unvaccinated sons (and my eleventh grandchild) between Christmas and New Year's Day. Fingers and eyes crossed, as they say.

Lee - 1-7-2024 at 10:23 AM

Don't understand the science behind probiotics. Fermented foods like kefir, etc., is good for the stomach for the problems I had (pylori) and that's what I'm hooked on. Once you've had pylori and been treated, you'll know you don't want to go through that again.

All this goes along with having a good diet (forget refined/processed foods) and exercise.

I'm going with my original post. Great post, Clark.

RFClark - 1-7-2024 at 11:15 AM

Paul,

I don’t personally see vaccination as a political statement. I have been vaccinated for COVID, Flu, RVS and diseases you probably never heard of. I personally believe that people who don’t vaccinate their children are criminally negligent.

Neither of the articles are politically motivated. Both refer to a study by a group at Duke University. There are other similar studies from the UK and Europe. Nowhere does anyone suggest this is a replacement for vaccination. They do suggest that it is effective in treating long COVID in both the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.

Different studies have shown that gut health influences other chronic diseases for which there are few or no effective treatments.

The only and whole point of comparing two groups of unvaccinated patients is to focus on the single difference between the groups. That difference is probiotics.

mtgoat666 - 1-7-2024 at 11:36 AM

Quote: Originally posted by RFClark  

I don’t personally see vaccination as a political statement.


Unfortunately,
A bunch of anti-science right wing nut pols made vaccinations political…. and now there are a lot of low information MAGA types that think vaccinations are nefarious evil plot hatched by commie liberals.
Proving that people are really stupid!

pauldavidmena - 1-7-2024 at 12:02 PM

Quote: Originally posted by RFClark  
Paul,

I don’t personally see vaccination as a political statement. I have been vaccinated for COVID, Flu, RVS and diseases you probably never heard of. I personally believe that people who don’t vaccinate their children are criminally negligent.

Neither of the articles are politically motivated. Both refer to a study by a group at Duke University. There are other similar studies from the UK and Europe. Nowhere does anyone suggest this is a replacement for vaccination. They do suggest that it is effective in treating long COVID in both the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.

Different studies have shown that gut health influences other chronic diseases for which there are few or no effective treatments.

The only and whole point of comparing two groups of unvaccinated patients is to focus on the single difference between the groups. That difference is probiotics.


Three of my five kids are unvaccinated, but none of them for political reasons. They're basically stubborn millennials who don't like being told what to do. When my youngest one was fired from his roofing job for not getting vaccinated, he said that he was forced to resign. I corrected him, saying that his employer had given him a path to retaining his job that he chose not to take.

My employer, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, established a vaccine mandate for employees who chose to return to campus. Those who remained unvaccinated were mandated to work from home. Due to new campus regulations regarding how many people could occupy an office, I was also relegated to working remotely, which suits me just fine!

Living in New England for the past 28 years, I've learned to avoid politics and religion - although I make an exception for the Red Sox, which arguably fall under both categories.

RFClark - 1-7-2024 at 12:21 PM

Paul,

Hopefully if they are ordered to leave a burning building they will respond differently.

pauldavidmena - 1-7-2024 at 01:25 PM

Quote: Originally posted by RFClark  
Paul,

Hopefully if they are ordered to leave a burning building they will respond differently.


From your mouth to Dog's ear!