Complementing herd immunity with a sulforaphane-based diet
Although nutritional epidemiology has been criticized on several fronts,
including the inability to measure diet accurately, and for its reliance
on observational studies to address etiologic questions35, there seems to be sufficient evidence to raise
some conclusions that will require appropriate testing.
Great hope has been placed on herd immunity, cross-immunity and
vaccination to provide protection against COVID-19. Unfortunately, herd
and cross-immunity may not be very effective, and the development of
vaccines is a long process. Until vaccines become available, a simple
solution would be to complement the diet with food that may have
positive metabolic regulatory and anti-inflammatory effects. It is clear
that the ecological studies available in Europe should be confirmed by
global studies and by adequate epidemiologic studies. However, proposing
a modification of diet before scientific evidence is available is not
harmful since these foods are usually, but not always, well-tolerated.
An alternative approach would be to evaluate the value of sulforaphane
in clinical trials, as recently proposed (Text box
1).2
In conclusion, many factors may play a role in the difference of
severity and death rates in COVID-19 in different parts of the world.
These factors include trained immunity, cross reactivities with
different viruses and other coronaviruses as well as many different
dietary measures such as vitamin D levels, short-chain fatty acids,
omega 3-rich nutrition. 36,37 Here, the authors
propose an additional dietary factor, a suphoraphane-based diet. Further
research is required to identify the synergistic effects between all of
these anti-inflammatory dietary factors, especially those acting on
insulin resistance and Nrf2.
Text Box: