Via practica 1/2021

Prevention and supportive therapy of COVID-19 using nutraceuticals in outpatient practice

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the new species of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is a serious medical and social problem. Despite of current preventive and therapeutic procedures mortality from the disease remains high, especially in vulnerable groups of the population. The deficiency of vitamins and minerals is an accepted risk factor for an unfavorable prognosis of the disease due to weaker immune reaction to viremia and an uncontrolled secondary inflammatory response of the organism. The use of vitamins C and D, as well as minerals (zinc, selenium, magnesium) and other specific nutraceuticals (quercetin, melatonin, N-acetylcysteine) has the potential to reduce the number of infected people, improve the prognosis of patients with mild COVID-19 and finally minimize the number of those ones who will require intensive hospital care. The article summarizes current knowledge on this topic. Recommendations for outpatient use of nutraceuticals in everyday practice are provided in the table at the end of the text.

Keywords: COVID-19, nutraceuticals, vitamins, minerals, outpatient treatment