Photo: Kritzolina via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped. This adapted image is also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Diets richest in healthy plant foods are linked to a 41% lower risk of severe COVID-19 and a 9% lower risk of catching it at all, a study of more than half a million people has found.
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, King's College London and the health science company ZOE analyzed 592,571 users of the COVID Symptom Study app in the UK and US. Their pre-pandemic diets were scored on healthy plant foods such as fruit and vegetables, and they were followed until December 2020, during which 31,815 caught the virus. The findings are published in the journal Gut.
The link held after adjusting for factors such as smoking, physical activity and body weight, and was strongest for people living in deprived areas, where poor diet and deprivation together added more risk than either alone. The study is observational, and diet is no substitute for vaccination.
A diet characterised by healthy plant-based foods was associated with lower risk and severity of COVID-19. This association may be particularly evident among individuals living in areas with higher socioeconomic deprivation.
That is how the authors conclude in the full paper.
It backs up the June study in which plant-based healthcare workers had 73% lower odds of moderate-to-severe COVID-19.
Another good reason to load up on fruit and veg this winter.