Drinking coffee might protect from COVID-19, according to a recent study conducted by experts at Northwestern University in Illinois. Healthy vegetables also played a significant role in this study. The findings were published in the journal Nutrients.
Researchers analyzed data from 37,988 people in the UK Bio bank for this one-of-a-kind study. Dietary habits were tracked between 2006 and 2010, as well as COVID-19 infections from March to December 2020.
The participants’ diet were examined, as well as their self-reported use of coffee, tea, vegetables, fruit, fatty fish, processed meat, and red meat. COVID-19 was found to be positive in 17 percent of the 37,988 people that were tested.
“Humans are generally creatures of habit, especially with regards to consumption of coffee and tea. It’s very possible that had we captured diet more recently prior to the pandemic, perhaps the associations we observed might have been stronger,” said Ms. Marilyn Cornelis, an associate professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and senior author of the study.
The results show that one or more cups of coffee per day was associated with about a 10 percent decrease in risk of COVID-19 compared to less than one cup per day.
Furthermore, consumption of at least 0.67 servings per day of vegetables was associated with a lower risk of infection. Processed meat consumption of as little as 0.43 servings per day was associated with a higher risk of COVID-19.
“Coffee is a major source of caffeine, but there are also dozens of other compounds that may potentially underlie the protective associations we observed,” said Ms. Cornelis.
The study is now analyzing whether these diet behaviors are “specific to COVID or respiratory infections more broadly”.
