The Real Pandemic Is Insulin Resistance Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola

Analysis by Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola

• After old age, obesity appears to be the most prominent risk factor for being hospitalized with COVID-19, doubling the risk of hospitalization in patients under the age of 60

• Most COVID-19 patients have more than one underlying health issue. A study looking at 5,700 New York City patients found 88% had more than one comorbidity. Only 6.3% had just one underlying health condition and 6.1% had none

• Obesity also makes you more vulnerable to infectious diseases by lowering your immune function

• Elevated blood glucose levels appear to play a significant role in viral replication and the development of cytokine storms. The real pandemic here appears to be dysregulated glucose metabolism; in other words, insulin resistance

• Amassing data suggest that even when in close, crowded quarters, the infection rate is rather low, and fit, healthy individuals are more likely to be asymptomatic than not when testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection

According to a January 2019 update by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 122 million American adults have diabetes or prediabetes1 — conditions which have been shown to increase your chances of contracting and even dying from COVID-19.2,3,4,5,6,7 As noted in an April 16, 2020, report by The New York Times:8

Obesity Appears To Be Independent Risk Factor for COVID-19

After old age, obesity appears to be the most prominent risk factor for being hospitalized with COVID-19 — doubling the risk of hospitalization in patients under the age of 60 in one study9 — even if the individual has no other obesity-related health problems. A French study10,11 also found obese patients treated for COVID-19 were more likely to require mechanical ventilation.

Dr. Leora Horwitz, director of the Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science at NYU Langone who co-wrote the paper12 "Factors Associated with Hospitalization and Critical Illness Among 4,103 Patients With Covid-19 Disease In New York City" — which has not yet been peer-reviewed — told The New York Times:13

Most COVID-19 Patients Have More Than One Comorbidity

While obesity may top the list of comorbidities — underlying conditions that make COVID-19 worse — investigations reveal most COVID-19 patients have more than one underlying health issue. A study14 looking at 5,700 New York City patients found 88% had more than one comorbidity. Only 6.3% had just one underlying health condition and 6.1% had none.

In this particular study,15 published in JAMA, high blood pressure at 53.1% beat obesity (41.7%) as the No. 1 most common comorbidity among hospitalized patients, followed by diabetes at 31.7% and coronary artery disease at 10.4%.

Co-author Karina Davidson, senior vice president for the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research told Time magazine:16

Obesity Lowers Immune Function

According to The New York Times,17 one hypothesis for why obesity is worsening COVID-19 has to do with the fact that obesity causes chronic inflammation. Having more proinflammatory cytokines in circulation increases your risk of experiencing a cytokine storm. Obesity also makes you more vulnerable to infectious diseases by lowering your immune function.18,19,20,21,22,23

As noted in one such study,24 "there is a positive feedback loop between local inflammation in adipose tissue and altered immune response in obesity." Yet another scientific review25 pointed out "There is strong evidence indicating that excess adiposity negatively impacts immune function and host defense in obese individuals." A 2018 review article further explained:26

Glucose Metabolism Influences Cytokine Storms

An April 15, 2020, article27 in The Scientist also reviews new evidence28,29 that sheds further light on why obesity and diabetes are such potent risk factors for severe COVID-19 infection.

In a nutshell, higher blood glucose levels appear to play a significant role in viral replication and the development of cytokine storms. While the research in question looked at influenza A-induced cytokine storms, these findings may well be applicable in COVID-19 as well.

Cytokines are released by your immune system in response to foreign invaders. They, in turn, act as messengers that instruct other immune cells to fight the pathogen. In some cases, this immune response goes into overdrive, resulting in what's known as a "cytokine storm" that can cause severe tissue damage and lead to death.

A cytokine storm response is typically the reason why people die from infections, be it the seasonal flu, Ebola, urinary tract infection or COVID-19. A critical player in cytokine production is the transcription factor interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5). In mice, genetically eliminating IRF5 protects them from influenza-induced cytokine storms.30

Interestingly, "the inflammatory response to influenza infections is also known to drive up glucose metabolism," The Scientist reports,31 "in part so that immune cells have the necessary energy to mount a strong response, and also because the virus needs the sugar to replicate."

According to researchers at the State Key Laboratory of Virology at Wuhan University, the hexosamine biosynthesis pathway — a glucose metabolism pathway — is responsible for activating IRF5-induced cytokine production in cells and mice. The same pathway is also responsible for viral replication, they say.32,33,34 As reported by The Scientist:35

In a Science Advances press release, co-author Shi Liu states:36

Insulin Resistance Is the Real Pandemic

So, to summarize, the real pandemic here appears to be dysregulated glucose metabolism; in other words, insulin resistance, which is exceedingly prevalent in the U.S.37,38 Insulin resistance, in turn, is a diet-induced condition.

Specifically, processed foods — which are loaded with added sugars, processed grains and industrially processed omega-6 vegetable oils — are the primary culprits causing insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes and obesity, and according to FoodNavigator.com,39 doctors are finally starting to talk about the food industry's role in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Malhotra stresses these views in his April 16, 2020, article41 "COVID-19 and the Elephant in the Room," published in European Scientist. "Obesity and chronic metabolic disease is killing COVID-19 patients: Now is the time to eat real food," he says. Indeed, if our public health agencies really want to save lives, it's time to get onboard with nutrition.

Junk Food Industry Faces Increasing Pressure

This is timely, considering a Corporate Accountability report,43 announced44 April 21, 2020, highlights the "outsized role" of International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), a junk food industry front group funded by Coca-Cola, plays in shaping nutritional policies around the globe. According to the Corporate Accountability press release:45

Data Show COVID-19 Isn't a Significant Threat

In the featured Fundamental Health podcast above, Dr. Paul Saladino interviews Dr. Kirk Parsley about the lifestyle factors that are contributing to the high COVID-19 caseload in the U.S.

Saladino cites findings46 showing that of the roughly 4,800 crew on the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, 660 had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. (As of April 23, when all of the crew had reportedly been tested, 840 tested positive.47) However, as noted by Saladino and reported by Business Insider,48 60% were asymptomatic, meaning they had no symptoms. Only one crewmember has died,49 and as of April 23, none were in intensive care.50

Similarly, among the 3,711 passengers and crew onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, 712 (19.2%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and of these 46.5% were asymptomatic at the time of testing. Of those showing symptom, only 9.7% required intensive care and 1.3% died.51

Military personnel, as you would expect, tend to be healthier than the general population. Still, the data from these two incidents reveal several important points to consider. First of all, it suggests that even when living in close, crowded quarters, the infection rate is rather low.

Only 17.5% of the USS Theodore Roosevelt crew got infected — slightly lower than the 19.2% of those onboard the Diamond Princess, which had a greater ratio of older people.

Second, fit and healthy individuals are more likely to be asymptomatic than not — 60% of naval personnel compared to 46.5% of civilians onboard the Diamond Princess had no symptoms despite testing positive.

Saladino and Parsley go on to discuss current pandemic response efforts, such as the recommendation (and in some areas mandate) to wear a face mask when venturing outside. Both are convinced wearing a bandana across your face is completely useless, for the simple fact that the virus is so small it can easily slip through the fabric.

Parsley also reviews the statistics as of April 21, 2020, using Worldometer data,52 showing only 1.7% of American COVID-19 cases require hospitalization, and of those an even smaller ratio will actually die. Is it really reasonable to shut down the entire country and place everyone under house arrest over a 1.7% hospitalization rate?

So-called "COVID-19 cases," by the way, simply means people who have tested positive using an RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test, which is used to diagnose an active infection by detecting the presence of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material.53

Mortality Rates Are Still Vastly Overestimated

The hospitalization is actually bound to be even lower than 1.7% in real life, seeing how few people have actually been tested. Preliminary findings54 published April 17, 2020, reveal the actual infection rate in Santa Clara County, California, is likely to be between 50- and 85fold higher than the number of confirmed cases.

This is based on seroprevalence data, meaning antibody testing. If you have antibodies against a particular pathogen, you've been exposed to it in the past, whether you developed symptoms or not, and you're now immune to it.

Between April 3 and April 4, 3,330 Santa Clara county residents were tested for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 using a lateral flow immunoassay. In an effort to ensure results were as accurate as possible, they were adjusted for test performance characteristics using three estimates:

1. Test manufacturer data

2. A sample of 37 positive and 30 negative controls tested at Stanford

3. A combination of both

According to the authors:55

Randomized antibody tests done in New York show that upward of 20% of the population in New York have been infected, suggesting that the virus had spread far more widely than known.56

This is also strong support for a lower fatality rate as previous inaccurate PCR tests were only done on sick people and there was no idea how many in the population had been infected. Since more people are infected, this increases the denominator in the calculation and lowers the mortality rate calculation.

Blood Pressure Drugs May Worsen COVID-19

Making matters worse, the drugs routinely used to treat lifestyle-induced afflictions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease may also be contributing to adverse outcomes in patients with COVID-19. According to Reuters:57

This presents significant challenges for patients and doctors alike, as there's currently no significant consensus on whether patients should discontinue the drugs. The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford in England recommends switching to alternative blood pressure medicines in patients who have only mildly elevated blood pressure and are at high risk for COVID-19.

A paper in NEJM stressed the potential benefits of the drugs instead, saying patients should continue taking them. However, several of the scientists who wrote that paper have done "extensive, industry-supported research on antihypertensive drugs," Reuters notes.

Dr. Kevin Kavanagh, founder of the patient advocacy group Health Watch USA, believes it would be unwise to allow scientists funded by the drug industry to give clinical directions at this time. "Let others without a conflict of interest try to make a call," he said.58

Restore Insulin Sensitivity for Long-Term Risk Mitigation

If we want people to survive the next pandemic, whatever that might be, then improving public health has got to be the No. 1 priority going forward. Waiting for a drug cure or vaccine is a fool's game.

Health care really needs to start emphasizing strategies known to improve overall health rather than throwing drugs at symptoms that don't address the underlying causes. Robust immune function is necessary to effectively combat COVID-19, and the same is true for all other infectious disease.

When it comes to improving health, addressing insulin resistance is truly key, seeing how it's a factor in virtually all chronic diseases. And, to do that, we need to dramatically cut down on processed foods.

As noted by Dr. Sandra Weber, president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, in The New York Times,59 "We know that if you do not have good glucose control, you're at high risk for infection, including viruses and presumably this one as well … would put you in a situation where you would have better immune function."

For those who desire more in-depth understanding of how you can become metabolically flexible and eliminate insulin resistance, consider picking up a copy of my book, "Fat for Fuel." It goes into far greater detail, providing a comprehensive program that will help optimize your metabolic flexibility and strengthen your immune system — both of which are crucial components of health and disease prevention.