Costa BTD, Araújo GRL, da Silva Júnior RT, Santos LKS, Lima de Souza Gonçalves V, Lima DBA, Cuzzuol BR, Santos Apolonio J, de Carvalho LS, Marques HS, Silva CS, Barcelos IS, Oliveira MV, Freire de Melo F. Effects of nutrients on immunomodulation in patients with severe COVID-19: Current knowledge. World J Crit Care Med 2022; 11(4): 201-218 [PMID: 36051942 DOI: 10.5492/wjccm.v11.i4.201]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Fabrício Freire de Melo, MSc, PhD, Postdoc, Professor, Instituto Multidisciplinar em Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Rua Hormindo Barros, 58, Quadra 17, Lote 58, Vitória da Conquista 45029-094, Bahia, Brazil. freiremelo@yahoo.com.br
Research Domain of This Article
Critical Care Medicine
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Crit Care Med. Jul 9, 2022; 11(4): 201-218 Published online Jul 9, 2022. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v11.i4.201
Effects of nutrients on immunomodulation in patients with severe COVID-19: Current knowledge
Bruna Teixeira da Costa, Glauber Rocha Lima Araújo, Ronaldo Teixeira da Silva Júnior, Luana Kauany de Sá Santos, Vinícius Lima de Souza Gonçalves, Daniel Bastos Alves Lima, Beatriz Rocha Cuzzuol, Jonathan Santos Apolonio, Lorena Sousa de Carvalho, Hanna Santos Marques, Camilo Santana Silva, Isadora de Souza Barcelos, Márcio Vasconcelos Oliveira, Fabrício Freire de Melo
Bruna Teixeira da Costa, Glauber Rocha Lima Araújo, Ronaldo Teixeira da Silva Júnior, Luana Kauany de Sá Santos, Daniel Bastos Alves Lima, Beatriz Rocha Cuzzuol, Jonathan Santos Apolonio, Lorena Sousa de Carvalho, Camilo Santana Silva, Isadora de Souza Barcelos, Márcio Vasconcelos Oliveira, Fabrício Freire de Melo, Instituto Multidisciplinar em Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Vitória da Conquista 45029-094, Bahia, Brazil
Vinícius Lima de Souza Gonçalves, Hanna Santos Marques, Campus Vitória da Conquista, Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia, Vitória da Conquista 45083-900, Bahia, Brazil
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with the conception and design of the study, literature review and analysis, manuscript drafting, critical revision, and editing, and final approval of the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest exist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Fabrício Freire de Melo, MSc, PhD, Postdoc, Professor, Instituto Multidisciplinar em Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Rua Hormindo Barros, 58, Quadra 17, Lote 58, Vitória da Conquista 45029-094, Bahia, Brazil. freiremelo@yahoo.com.br
Received: January 20, 2022 Peer-review started: January 20, 2022 First decision: February 8, 2022 Revised: February 24, 2022 Accepted: May 17, 2022 Article in press: May 17, 2022 Published online: July 9, 2022 Processing time: 167 Days and 19.1 Hours
Abstract
Recent research has demonstrated that critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) show significant immune system dysregulation. Due to that, some nutrients that influence immunomodulation have been suggested as a form of treatment against the infection. This review collected the information on the impact of vitamins on the prognosis of COVID-19, with the intention of facilitating treatment and prevention of the disease risk status in patients. The collected information was obtained using the PubMed electronic database by searching for articles that relate COVID-19 and the mechanisms/effects of the nutrients: Proteins, glucose, lipids, vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, iron, copper, zinc, and magnesium, including prospective, retrospective, and support articles. The findings reveal an optimal response related mainly to omega-3, eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, calcium, and iron that might represent benefits in the treatment of critically ill patients. However, nutrient supplementation should be done with caution due to the limited availability of randomized controlled studies.
Core Tip: Immunomodulation has a considerable influence on the response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. Therefore, the medical team must acknowledge different resources to improve the immune system. In the current situation of prevalence coronavirus disease 2019, knowing the potential risks and benefits of nutritional supplementation can improve patients' response and avoid severe conditions, facilitating the process of healing. For that purpose, this article brings nutrients which might help and those which worsen the immunological regulation and other body functions, pursuing to mitigate the response against the virus.
