What vitamins and dietary supplements to take while undergoing COVID-19? Advice from your family doctor

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When we suffer from coronavirus at home, it is worth taking magnesium, B vitamins and selenium. Elderberry juice and ginger water also have many health properties. – It supports breathing and prevents coughing. It also hydrates the body, which is very important, recommends Dr. Agnieszka Arendarczyk, family medicine specialist and clinical nutritionist.

1. Vitamin C builds the body’s immunity and protects against infections. But once we get sick with the coronavirus, it’s not effective
2. – Vitamin D3 should be taken during the disease in the same amount as usual – advises the family doctor
3. People with COVID-19 should stay hydrated: drink one and a half to two liters of water a day during the day. Best with the addition of elderberry juice or ginger
4. You can find more about the coronavirus on the TvoiLokony home page

Vitamin C to COVID-19? It immunizes but does not heal

Many people who get sick so lightly as a result of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus that do not require hospitalization believe in the magic power of vitamins and dietary supplements taken during ailments. However, contrary to appearances, not all of them are recommended by doctors. This group includes, for example, ascorbic acid, popularly known as vitamin C.

– Although vitamin C works great in building immunity before falling ill and during the course of viral infections such as influenza, it is not effective in coronavirus. It is not recommended to take vitamin C then, explains Dr. Agnieszka Arendarczyk, specialist in family medicine and clinical dietitian.

Excessive supplementation with vitamin C does not make much sense also because the body first absorbs the necessary amount of ascorbic acid, and then activates such mechanisms to eliminate the excess.

1. To provide the body with vitamin C, reach for Vitamin Jelly Mr. Tonito Jelly Daily, which you can find in various flavors at Medonet Market.

The fact that vitamin C is not effective in the course of the coronavirus, scientists argued already at the beginning of the pandemicas soon as there were rumors that intravenous vitamin C supplementation was alleviating the course of infection. For example, the authors of a study from the Clinical Epidemiology Unit of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi published a conclusion on the website of the US National Library of Medicine that vitamin C, although well known on a daily basis for its anti-inflammatory properties, did not alleviate the course of COVID-19 and did not bring about health benefits of patients.

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Vitamin D and COVID-19

During the pandemic, vitamin D3 started to make a splash. It is worth emphasizing that, like vitamin C, it helps build immunity. But coronavirus does not cure either.

– If we take this vitamin in large amounts during an infection, it will not speed up recovery. Not only that, in this way we can accelerate the accumulation of calcium, which is not advisable. Therefore, vitamin D3 should be taken in the same amount as usual during the disease – explains Dr. Arendarczyk. In the course of the disease, however, he recommends the use of magnesium.

Magnesium – the element of life

– This is very important because magnesium is an element that is responsible for many processes in the human body: it ensures proper cell regeneration, regulates blood pressure and the balance of other minerals – explains the family doctor.

Magnesium is said to be the “element of life” also because it has a calming effect and protects against stress, which can lead to sleep disturbances. And this has far-reaching health consequences. In addition, it strengthens the body’s defenses, so it helps to improve immunity.

– B vitamins, probiotics and selenium are just as important as magnesium. During illness, it is worth drinking elderberry juice and ginger water. These ingredients have a significant impact on the process of breathing, which is important in the coronavirus. By drinking such juices, we also hydrate the body. Patients should regularly drink one and a half or even two liters of water a day. Such supplementation is proven because it works, among other things, against a tiring cough – the doctor advises.

What to cough with COVID-19?

– In coronavirus infection, patients often have a tendency to thicken lung secretions. What helps to thin it is acetylcysteine. Products with this substance are available in pharmacies without a prescription and used in the morning help to eliminate the residual discharge – emphasizes Dr. Arendarczyk and adds that the common belief about the health properties of onions and garlic during illness is not exaggerated.

– Garlic acts as a natural antibiotic and therefore helps with bacterial superinfections occurring during the coronavirus. Although it must be emphasized that it is not a medicine, just like onion – noted Dr. Arendarczyk.

When you have COVID-19, your diet must be light

– Since the coronavirus has an adverse effect on blood clotting disorders, we must use an appropriate diet during the disease. One that relieves the liver. The diet is to be easily digestible, consisting of warm, preferably cooked, non-fatty meals. We should eat often but in small amounts. It is important not to overeat, otherwise the undigested food will remain in the intestines – says the expert.

And he adds: – I do not recommend fried in breadcrumbs and too much dairy, which we will not be able to fully digest and which will generate an increased amount of mucus. An excessive amount of bread, rolls, yeast cakes is inadvisable, because such food will also cause stagnation in the intestines. And this will block us from recovering, recommends Dr. Arendarczyk.