The Furin-COVID-19 Connection Continues but Key Aspects are Missing From the Discussion

More validation is emerging for the furin protease (“furin”) hypothesis I posited in this blog: The Furin Protease Connection: From SARS CoV-2 and Anthrax, to Diabetes and Hypertension and that is now available as a pre-print publication here.

Considering furin protease inhibitors

Scientists are validating furin inhibition as a possible pathway to addressing COVID. And in this Medical News Today article they also used anthrax as a model to study for interventions. However, the non-specific nature of medical protease inhibitors carries a very high side effect profile. Many individuals won’t be able to tolerate this intervention.

In my mind, this elevates the potential importance of luteolin, given the high in vitro furin inhibition it has demonstrated, and the animal research on its inhibition of dengue fever replication via the same mechanism.

Lifestyle factors that lower furin

We also know that 94 percent of SARS CoV-2 cases are in individuals with pre-existing conditions. We also know that the highest-associated conditions are also associated with elevated levels of baseline furin. And that furin is an important independent risk factor that trends high very early on in the journey towards cardiometabolic disease.

What is steadfastly being missed in all the papers I am reading is the urgent need for interventions to LOWER circulating furin. This risk profile (obesity, high blood glucose, high insulin, and/or high blood pressure) is highly modifiable through correcting underlying diet, environment and lifestyle habits.

Author: Kara Fitzgerald, ND

https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/

Kara Fitzgerald, ND, received her doctor of naturopathic medicine degree from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. She completed the first Counsel on Naturopathic Medicine-accredited post-doctorate position in nutritional biochemistry and laboratory science at Metametrix Clinical Laboratory under the direction of Richard Lord, PhD. Her residency was completed at Progressive Medical Center, a large, integrative medical practice in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Fitzgerald is the lead author and editor of Case Studies in Integrative and Functional Medicine and is a contributing author to Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine and the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM)’s Textbook for Functional Medicine. With the Helfgott Research Institute, Dr. Fitzgerald is actively engaged in clinical research on the DNA methylome using a diet and lifestyle intervention developed in her practice. The first publication from the study focuses on reversal of biological aging and was published 04-12-2021 in the journal Aging. She has published a consumer book titled Younger You as well as a companion cookbook, Better Broths and Healing Tonics and has an application-based Younger You Program, based on the study. Dr. Fitzgerald is on the faculty at IFM, is an IFM Certified Practitioner and lectures globally on functional medicine. She runs a Functional Nutrition Residency program, and maintains a podcast series, New Frontiers in Functional Medicine and an active blog on her website, www.drkarafitzgerald.com. Her clinical practice is in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. Additional publications

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3 Comments

David Schonbrunn says:

July 2, 2020 at 2:04 pm

What is being missed by status quo medicine is precisely what sets functional medicine apart: the critical importance of terrain. The biomarker reference levels for what constitutes a healthy individual are completely different. Your Furin Protease Connection paper is the most holistic and comprehensive of the hundreds of papers I’ve read. Thank you so much for your contribution.

The overfocus on pathogen/vaccine is misdirecting tremendous resources away from protecting lives, using what’s currently known by functional medicine. This is the ultimate civil rights issue. What can be done to bring the perspective of functional medicine to a larger audience?

Reply
- Kara Fitzgerald, ND says:
  
  July 3, 2020 at 2:03 pm
  
  Thank you, David. I greatly appreciate your thoughts.Similarly, Dr. Jeff Bland wrote a powerful piece- also recognizing the furin connection, but diving much deeper into the role of metabolic dysfunction (the pandemic within a pandeumic) on Medium. Check it out here: https://medium.com/@jeffreyblandphd/covid-19-a-pandemic-within-a-pandemic-fd0f4fca373b
  
  DrKF
  
  Reply
  - David Schonbrunn says:
    
    July 4, 2020 at 3:58 pm
    
    Please implore Dr. Bland to submit a shortened, physician-oriented version of his paper to the NEJM, as his response to the statement “the pandemic response remains hamstrung by our limited understanding of how to generate effective immunity, particularly in the elderly,” found in his first quote.
    
    What an opportunity to bring the principles of functional medicine to conventional practices! His extensive citations to the literature create the needed contextual bridge.
    
    Reply

The info you are putting out is awesome. You’re playing an enormous role in helping so many practitioners and people to better understand the immune system and all the wonderful bioactives and lifestyle modifications that can make a difference. Thanks for all the time, effort, and research that you put in on a daily basis to help others. You should certainly be proud of what you do.

Neil C.

Dr. Fitzgerald’s book is an extraordinary integration of a vast amount of diverse information that makes practical sense of the complex interplay between our genes, the folate/vitamin B12 cycle, homocysteine, and the clinical importance of methylation.

Jeffrey Bland, PHDPresident PLMI

I was thrilled to see the principles of a methylation food plan. This helped to confirm my teaching principles.

Kylene Bogden, MS, RDN, CSSD, LDNCleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine

The nutrition methylation webinar has fabulous information on methylation and specific nutrients that are required to support the process. I think I can speak for our team of dietitian nutritionists in saying that it is valuable to connect the science and biochemistry from Dr. Fitzgerald’s point of view with the nutrition and implementation from Romilly. They are a knowledgeable team! I love that this is a food-first approach with an emphasis on food and dietary intervention for sustainable long-term nutritional support. Food is not just medicine, it’s information for methylation and you can’t supplement your way out of a bad diet!

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I enjoyed the presentation and really appreciated the food first approach. There were many talking points to help solidify this concept with patients, particularly those that don’t “buy in” to the food first approach or simply want to take a supplement.

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Dr. Kara Fitzgerald always produces clinically relevant and compelling cutting-edge content in her blogs, PodCasts and newsletters and I try to never miss one. Her dept of knowledge in the functional medicine paradigm and its relevance to modifying the course of the chronic disease epidemic is not only valuable, but inspiring. She is a respected colleague and I always appreciate the effort she puts into keeping up the important dialogue between integrative and functional medicine clinicians, as well as her clear desire to educate the health care consumer in the process. Dr. David M. Brady (University of Bridgeport, Designs for Health, Inc., Diagnostic Solutions Labs, LLC, and DrDavidBrady.com)

David BradyDoctor

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I’ve had the opportunity to review Dr. Kara Fitzgerald’s blogs. She is a well-recognized leader of functional, integrative medicine. Her blogs effervesce with her enthusiasm for her subject matter and convey her genuine warmth and compassion for her patients. She writes in an engaging style while conveying significant and meaningful information about the varied topics she has covered. They are simply fun to read and easy to learn from her wealth of experience.

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Dr. Kara’s blogs are current, scientifically sound, and relevant to clinical care. Her case studies and reviews are focused on how to improve clinical thinking and outcomes using a systems biology and functional medicine approach. They are one of my favorite learning tools and I look forward to her insights and interviews monthly!

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Dr. Fitzgerald is what you get when you merge a brilliant clinical brain with a powerful loving heart. Her ability to incorporate seemingly disparate details into a mosaic of meaning that can improve patient care is extraordinary. The opportunity to learn from her should never be missed without great reason.

David H. Haase, MDIFM-CP, FABFM, DABIHM, CNS, BCN

Kara and I have co-authored case studies for peer-reviewed articles and textbooks over the years. I love reading her blog, while evidenced-based and geared towards the professional, the casual style makes for fun reading!

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I thoroughly enjoy reading your blog and recommend it to the medical students. It is interesting, informative and up to date as well as an excellent supplement to their text.

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Dr. Kara Fitzgerald’s writing style is clear, concise, well-translated from scientific gobbledygook to understandable every language. And most importantly, it’s accurate.

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Of the myriad blogs I receive in my inbox, Kara’s is one that I actually read! It’s funny, clinically relevant and smart.

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Wading through emails is not an ideal part of my day. For this reason, I’m very particular about who’s information I want coming into my inbox. When I see an email come in from Dr Fitzgerald, I stop what I am doing and I read it fully right then so I don’t miss it. Her content is always interesting, clinically relevant, cutting edge and many times entertaining as well. I only wish one thing: that she’d write more!

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The Furin-COVID-19 Connection Continues but Key Aspects are Missing From the Discussion

Author: Kara Fitzgerald, ND

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