Is diet partly responsible for differences in COVID‐19 death rates between and within countries?

• Published in: Clinical and translational allergy Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 16 - n/a
• Main Authors: Bousquet, Jean, Anto, Josep M., Haahtela, Tari, Cruz, Alvaro A., Aldrey‐Palacios, Oscar, Anto, Josep, Arshad, Hasan, Avolio, Francesca, Azhari, Khuzama, Balotro‐Torres, Christine, Bedbrook, Anna, Bieber, Thomas, Blain, Hubert, Bochenska Marciniak, Malgorzata, Bousquet, Philippe, Braido, Fulvio, Busse, William W., Buters, Jeroen, Caballero‐Fonseca, Fernan, Cano, Antonio, Caraballo, Luis, Caro, Jorge, Chandrasekharan, Ramanathan, Chen, Yuzhi, Chua, Antonio, Chung, Kian Fan, Cingi, Cemal, Coste, André, Custovic, Adnan, Daniilidis, Vasilis, De Guia, Eloisa, Didier, Alain, Djukanovic, Ratko, Dykewicz, Mark, El‐Sayed, Zeinab A., Espinoza, Heidilita, García Cruz, María de la Luz Hortensia, Gayraud, Jacques, Gerth van Wijk, Roy, Iaccarino, Guido, Jiméneracruz Uscanga, Rubén Darío, Johnston, Sebastian, Kardas, Przemyslaw, Kleine‐Tebbe, Jorg, Koffi N'Goran, Bernard, Kompoti, Evangelia, Kopač, Peter, Kraxner, Helga, Kritikos, Vicky, Lalek, Nika, Larenas‐Linnemann, Désiree, Lavrut, Jorge, Le, Lan, Loukidis, Stelios, Madjar, Bojan, Matta Campos, Juan José, Melén, Erik, Merk, Hans, Mogica Martínez, María Dolores, Mohammad, Yousser, Monaco, Alessandro, Montefort, Steve, Mösges, Ralph, Mullol, Joaquim, Nicod, Laurent, Ouoba, Kampadilemba, Palkonen, Susanna, Palmer, Stephen, Panaitescu Bunu, Carmen, Panzner, Petr, Papi, Alberto, Paralchev, Bojidar, Pohl, Wolfgang, Poulsen, Lars, Puy, Robert, Rabe, Klaus, Reider, Norbert, Rodríguez González, Mónica, Ruiz, Mauricio, Sakai, Daiki, Saleh, Wafaa, Sastre‐Dominguez, Joaquin, Serrano, Elie, Shields, Mike, Sutherland, Michael, Sylvestre, Silvia, Takovska, Nadejda, To, Teresa, Todo‐Bom, Ana Maria, Toskala, Elina, Ulmeanu, Ruxandra, Urbancic, Jure, Valovirta, Erkka, Vera‐Munoz, Cécilia, Woo, Kent, Yoshihara, Shigemi, Young, Ian, Zaitoun, Fares, Zidarn, Mihaela, Zubrinich, Celia
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 2020; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Wiley; BioMed Central Ltd
• Subjects: ACE gene; Angiotensin-converting enzyme; Antioxidant; Asthma; Austria; Baltic Sea; Belgium; Cardiovascular & respiratory systems; Coronavirus; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Czech Republic; Diet; Emerging diseases; Europe; Fatalities; Finland; Food; Food and Nutrition; France; Germany; Hay fever; Human health and pathology; Human health sciences; Infectious diseases; Italy; Life Sciences; Mortality; Norway; Nutrition; Poland; Review; Rhinitis; Sciences de la santé humaine; Slovakia; Spain; Systèmes cardiovasculaire & respiratoire; United Kingdom; Romania; Europe; Switzerland; Spain; Greece; Czech Republic; Austria; Bavaria Germany; Poland; Italy; Slovakia; Bulgaria; France; Germany; Coronavirus; Angiotensin-converting enzyme; Diet; Antioxidant; Food
• ISSN: 2045-7022; 2045-7022
• DOI: 10.1186/s13601-020-00323-0

Reported COVID‐19 deaths in Germany are relatively low as compared to many European countries. Among the several explanations proposed, an early and large testing of the population was put forward. Most current debates on COVID‐19 focus on the differences among countries, but little attention has been given to regional differences and diet. The low‐death rate European countries (e.g. Austria, Baltic States, Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, Poland, Slovakia) have used different quarantine and/or confinement times and methods and none have performed as many early tests as Germany. Among other factors that may be significant are the dietary habits. It seems that some foods largely used in these countries may reduce angiotensin‐converting enzyme activity or are anti‐oxidants. Among the many possible areas of research, it might be important to understand diet and angiotensin‐converting enzyme‐2 (ACE2) levels in populations with different COVID‐19 death rates since dietary interventions may be of great benefit.