A person will experience mild or more severe symptoms of COVID-19

Claude Laggard, a French medical biologist and founder of the Nutria Laboratory, is surprised that the link between zinc deficiency and severe Covid-19 symptoms has so far been underexplored and he carried out a study that highlights the role that zinc plays in our immune systems. Laggard said:

“Zinc plays a fundamental role in the body and is involved in multiple biological reactions. Our body doesn’t need a lot of zinc, but since there are numerous food interferences, its presence in optimal concentrations is not guaranteed. Zinc deficiency affects up to a quarter of all people in Western countries and I am convinced that the majority of Covid-19 sufferers are deficient.”

The role of zinc in immune system pathways is complex, since it participates both in pro-inflammatory and regulatory pathways. Zinc deficiencies have been associated with higher IL-6 responses (IL-6 is an interleukin that plays an important role in severe lung damage caused by Covid-19). Zinc also inhibits SARS-Cove RNA polymerase and its ability to replicate. Research presented at the 2020 ESCMID Conference on Coronavirus Disease suggests that lower levels of baseline plasma zinc are associated with poorer survival outcomes in severe Covid-19 patients. The research, which was led by Dr. Roberto Güerri-Fernández, of Barcelona’s Hospital Del Mar, involved a retrospective analysis of Covid-19 patients admitted to a university hospital during the spring of 2020. After adjusting for variables such as age, sex, and severity, each unit increase in the level of zinc in the patient’s blood at the time of admission correlated with a 7% lower risk of dying after admission.

“Lower zinc levels at admission correlate with higher inflammation in the course of infection and poorer outcome,” said a member of the team led by Dr. Güerri-Fernández.