A new Spanish study has uncovered intriguing connections between everyday dietary habits and the severity of long COVID, suggesting that the amount of fat people consume may be associated with physical frailty, while protein and certain fatty acids could have more complicated relationships with cognitive performance.
Spanish researchers identified associations between dietary fat, physical frailty, and cognitive performance among adults
experiencing long COVID
The findings raise important questions about whether nutrition influences the lingering health problems experienced by people with long COVID, including persistent fatigue, muscle weakness, memory difficulties, pain, and reduced physical functioning.
However, researchers emphasize that the findings demonstrate associations rather than proving that changing dietary intake can improve symptoms.
Spanish Researchers Examine Nutrition and Long COVID
The research involved scientists from the following institutions in Spain:
-Regional Health Authority of Castilla y León.
-University of Salamanca.
-Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla.
-Primary Care and Health Promotion (RICAPPS).
-Hospital Universitario Príncipe de Asturias Alcalá.
The researchers analyzed dietary and clinical information from 290 adults participating in the BioICOPER study, including 201 women and 89 men. Their average age was approximately 53 years.
Participants recorded everything they ate and drank over seven consecutive days using a dietary assessment application. Researchers then compared their nutrient consumption against 12 clinical measures covering fatigue, frailty, pain, breathlessness, sleep, memory, cognition, mental health, and quality of life.
Higher Fat Intake Associated with Lower Frailty
The most striking finding involved dietary fat consumption and physical frailty.
After accounting for age and sex and correcting for multiple statistical comparisons, researchers identified three significant associations.
Each additional gram of total fat consumed daily was associated with approximately 1.7% lower odds of belonging to a more severe frailty category. For saturated fat, the corresponding reduction was approximately 4.4%, while monounsaturated fat was associated with approximately 3.3% lower odds.
Frailty was assessed using measurements involving fatigue, walking ability, physical resistance, illness burden, and weight loss.
Importantly, these findings did not establish that saturated fat protects against frailty. When researchers additionally accounted for overall calorie intake and examined dietary composition, the primary associations were no longer statistically significant after correction for multiple testing.
This suggests that total food consumption, rather than fat intake alone, could help explain the observed relationships.
Protein and Fatty Acids Show Unexpected Links to Brain Function
Another interesting discovery invol
ved cognitive performance, particularly the relationship between nutrient intake and scores on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.
In exploratory analyses involving 286 participants, researchers identified nonlinear relationships involving protein and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
For protein, predicted cognitive scores were highest at intermediate consumption levels. A diet providing 19% of calories from protein was associated with a predicted cognitive score approximately 0.83 points higher than one providing 15%. Increasing protein's contribution to 22% was associated with a predicted score 0.56 points lower than at 19%.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids showed a different pattern. Increasing their contribution from 4.5% to 7.5% of total calories corresponded to a predicted cognitive score approximately 1.72 points higher, with benefits appearing to level off at higher intake levels.
These exploratory findings require confirmation and cannot establish optimal dietary proportions.
Most Participants Failed to Meet Dietary Targets
This Thailand
Medical News report also highlights notable differences between participants' eating habits and established population-level nutritional recommendations.
Only 7.9% met the selected carbohydrate target, 8.6% met the total fat target, and 6.2% consumed saturated fat below 10% of daily calories.
Just 29.3% achieved the recommended minimum of 25 grams of dietary fiber daily.
Participants obtained an average of 42.2% of their calories from fat, exceeding the selected recommended range of 20% to 35%.
Nevertheless, these dietary patterns were not proven responsible for long COVID symptoms.
What the Findings Mean for Patients
The researchers concluded that nutritional assessments could be valuable when managing long COVID, particularly among patients experiencing weight changes, appetite disturbances, fatigue, or reduced physical functioning.
However, the observational study cannot determine whether dietary differences caused changes in health or whether more severely affected patients simply consumed less food.
Larger longitudinal studies and controlled dietary interventions are needed before specific macronutrient recommendations can be developed for long COVID patients.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Nutrients.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/21/3716
Read Also:
https://www.thailandmedical.news/articles/long-covid
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