Nutritional recommendations for CoVID-19 quarantine

Abstract

The world is currently experiencing the pandemic of coronavirus (CoV). In late 2019, the CoV infection began in Wuhan, Hubei, China. It had been originally called 2019 nCoV and it has been renamed CoVID-19 by the World Health Organization on February 2020. This epidemic began with animal-to-human infection, and the direct cause of death is generally due to ensuing severe atypical pneumonia. CoVID-19 has now been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, and people in all countries are under quarantine in order to reduce the spread of the virus, which then also lessens the impact on medical resources. Since quarantine is associated to the interruption of the work routine, this could be result in boredom. Boredom has been associated with a greater energy intake, as well as the consumption of higher quantities of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins [1]. Further, during quarantine continuously hearing or reading about the pandemic without a break can be stressful. Consequently, the stress pushes people toward overeating, mostly looking for sugary “comfort foods” [2]. This desire to consume a specific kind of food is defined as “food craving”, which is a multidimensional concept including emotional (intense desire to eat), behavioral (seeking food), cognitive (thoughts about food), and physiological (salivation) processes [3]. Of interest, a gender difference has been reported in food craving, with a higher prevalence in women than in men. Carbohydrate craving encourages serotonin production that in turn has a positive effect on mood. In a sense, carbohydrate-rich foods can be a way of self-medicating anti stress. The effect of carbohydrate craving on low mood is proportional to the glycemic index of foods. This unhealthy nutritional habit could increase the risk of developing obesity that beyond being a chronic state of inflammation, it is often complicated by heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease that have been demonstrated to increase the risk for more serious complications of CoVID-19 [4]. Quarantinerelated stress also results in sleep disturbances that in turn further worsen the stress and increase food intake thus giving rise to a dangerous vicious cycle. Therefore, it is important to consume food containing or promoting the synthesis of serotonin and melatonin at dinner. A considerable variety of plant species including roots, leaves, fruits, and seeds such as almonds, bananas, cherries, and oats contain melatonin and/or serotonin. These foods may also contain tryptophan, which is a precursor of serotonin and melatonin. Protein foods such as milk and milk products are the main sources of the sleep-inducing amino acid tryptophan. Moreover, tryptophan is involved in the regulation of satiety and caloric intake via serotonin that mainly lowers carbohydrate and fat intake, and inhibits neuropeptide Y, the most powerful hypothalamic orexigen peptides [5]. Further, beyond sleep-inducing properties, milk products such as yogurt could also augmented natural killer cell activity and reduce the risk of respiratory infections [6] During quarantine the increased intake of macronutrients could also be accompanied by micronutrients deficiency as occurs in obesity [7], which is commonly associated with impaired immune responses, particularly cell-mediated immunity, phagocyte function, cytokine production, secretory antibody response, antibody affinity, and the complement system, thus making more susceptible to viral infections [8]. Thus, during this time it is important to take care of nutritional habits, following a healthy and balanced nutritional pattern containing a high amount of minerals, antioxidants, and vitamins. Several studies reported that fruits and vegetables supplying micronutrients can boost immune function. This happens because some of * Giovanna Muscogiuri giovanna.muscogiuri@gmail.com