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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Ann Natl Acad Med Sci 2023; 59(04): 186-195
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1777316
Review Article

Current Perspective on Vitamins and SARS-CoV-2 Disease (COVID-19)

Himanshi Goyal   *
1   Department of Biochemistry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India
,
Diksha Rana   *
1   Department of Biochemistry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India
,
Renuka Sharma   *
1   Department of Biochemistry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India
,
Dikshit Lamba
1   Department of Biochemistry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India
,
Jyotdeep Kaur 
1   Department of Biochemistry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India
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Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a highly pathogenic and transmissible coronavirus, has resulted in a pandemic named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It has taken over the world in no time causing nearly 5 million deaths and almost 500 million people being affected as of June 2022 causing an extensive burden on healthcare facilities globally. Though the disease onset is via respiratory tract, but it affects almost all organs of the body and due to induction of mutations in the virus, combating with the disease is extremely difficult. The major damage associated with disease is driven through inflammatory pathways in tissues with accompanying cytokine storm mediated mainly by macrophages. Building a strong immune system requires maintenance of a healthy diet along with keeping vitamin and coenzyme deficiencies away. The review focuses on the importance of the vitamins for maintaining a good immune system to reduce the susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection, to fight the infection efficiently, and to reduce the impact of the disease. Vitamins play an essential role in modulating the immune responses to infection via altering the signaling pathways, which can act as potential weapons against the disease. Various water- and fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin B, C, D, and E have crucial roles in mediating primary interferon response, improving innate as well as adaptive functions of immunity and antioxidant properties. The current understanding about the supplementation of various vitamins as an adjunct therapeutic strategy to fight COVID-19 disease has also been discussed.

Keywords

COVID-19 - vitamins - vitamin D - micronutrients - inflammation - cytokine storm

Data Availability Statement

As this is a review article, thus the data added in has been taken from the available literature.


Authors' Contributions

J.K. supported the conceptualization and the objective of the article. D.R., H.G., R.S. carried out the writing of the article. D.L. contributed by editing the article so as to make it a crisp read. J.K. also contributed by conceptually revising the article on a critical level.


* These authors contributed equally.




Publication History

Article published online:
21 December 2023

© 2023. National Academy of Medical Sciences (India). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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