Resistance, Resilience and Recovery: New Resources for Functional Approaches to COVID-19
I am deeply impressed with the functional medicine community in taking on multiple, strong leadership roles around the pandemic.
Not a Recommended COVID Remedy – Oleander Plant Linked to Serious Side Effects, Including Death
Following the recently-reported news that oleandrin, an extract of the oleander plant, may combat COVID-19, the nonprofit American Botanical Council (ABC) issued a concerned warning about oleander, raising the alarm about the plant’s substantial toxicity.
Functional Medicine, COVID-19 & Racial Disparities: Bridging the Gaps Webinar
I am so grateful for the participation of the panel in the roundtable discussion on Bridging the Gaps in Functional Medicine, COVID-19 & Racial Disparities.
Early Cytokine Signatures Predict COVID Severity and May Guide Interventions
According to this new Nature paper, those with severe COVID are spiking higher cytokine signatures early on. This would suggest value in testing, including possibly IFN-gamma (see below), and addressing it early through anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle, as well as targeted anti-inflammatory nutraceutical interventions. This is, of course, a ‘standard’ approach used in Functional Medicine,…
More Robust Data Now Emerging on Vitamin D and COVID
COVID patients with poor prognosis have significantly lower serum levels of vitamin D compared to those with good prognosis, according to new data from a systematic review that pulled data from seven previous studies into its meta analysis. A total of 1,368 COVID-19 patients were included in the pooled results. Those with poor prognosis had…
Racial differences are consequential in COVID-19 outcomes
COVID-19 outcome disparities are rapidly becoming apparent for people with obesity and multiple black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) groups.
COVID-19 Treatment and Vaccine Tracker
From thymosin to ivermectin to stem cells and blood purification devises…. Check out the milikin-tracked research on COVID happening around the globe.
Organs targeted by ACE-2-utilizing viruses like COVID-19
This infographic from Scientist illustrating the many organs that the virus can gain entry to using ACE2 or TMRPSS2 receptors (definitive evidence for viral presence in the various organs is still being established, but the presence of the receptors provides a road map for investigation). Certainly this influences the wide variety of COVID presentations we…
Can Unconventional Immunomodulatory Agents Help Alleviate COVID-19 Symptoms and Severity?
ABSTRACT Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2) is the cause of the respiratory infection known as COVID-19. From an immunopathological standpoint, coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 induce increased levels of a variety of T-helper 1 (Th1) and inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, including interleukin-1 (IL-1), IL-6, CCL2 protein, and CXCL10 protein. In…
The Functional Medicine Approach to COVID-19: Additional Research on Nutraceuticals and Botanicals
In this paper, the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) added to the list of nutraceuticals and botanicals introduced earlier in their first article, The Functional Medicine Approach to COVID-19: Virus-Specific Nutraceutical and Botanical Agents. Periodically, IFM will update the original list to highlight other agents that may be considered as complementary treatments against COVID-19. Along…