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Review
. 2020 May 27:10:16.
doi: 10.1186/s13601-020-00323-0. eCollection 2020.

Is diet partly responsible for differences in COVID-19 death rates between and within countries?

Jean Bousquet  1   2   3   4 , Josep M Anto  5   6   7   8 , Guido Iaccarino  9 , Wienczyslawa Czarlewski  10   11 , Tari Haahtela  12 , Aram Anto  10 , Cezmi A Akdis  13 , Hubert Blain  14   15 , G Walter Canonica  16 , Victoria Cardona  17 , Alvaro A Cruz  18 , Maddalena Illario  19   20 , Juan Carlos Ivancevich  21   22 , Marek Jutel  23 , Ludger Klimek  24 , Piotr Kuna  25 , Daniel Laune  26 , Désirée Larenas-Linnemann  27 , Joaquim Mullol  28 , Nikos G Papadopoulos  29   30 , Oliver Pfaar  31 , Boleslaw Samolinski  32 , Arunas Valiulis  33 , Arzu Yorgancioglu  34 , Torsten Zuberbier  1   2   3   4 ; ARIA group
Collaborators, Affiliations
Review

Is diet partly responsible for differences in COVID-19 death rates between and within countries?

Jean Bousquet et al. Clin Transl Allergy. .

Erratum in

  • Correction to: Is diet partly responsible for differences in COVID-19 death rates between and within countries?
    Bousquet J, Anto JM, Iaccarino G, Czarlewski W, Haahtela T, Anto A, Akdis CA, Blain H, Walter Canonica G, Cardona V, Cruz AA, Illario M, Ivancevich JC, Jutel M, Klimek L, Kuna P, Laune D, Larenas-Linnemann D, Mullol J, Papadopoulos NG, Pfaar O, Samolinski B, Valiulis A, Yorgancioglu A, Zuberbier T; ARIA group. Bousquet J, et al. Clin Transl Allergy. 2020 Oct 26;10:44. doi: 10.1186/s13601-020-00351-w. eCollection 2020. Clin Transl Allergy. 2020. PMID: 33110492 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Reported COVID-19 deaths in Germany are relatively low as compared to many European countries. Among the several explanations proposed, an early and large testing of the population was put forward. Most current debates on COVID-19 focus on the differences among countries, but little attention has been given to regional differences and diet. The low-death rate European countries (e.g. Austria, Baltic States, Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, Poland, Slovakia) have used different quarantine and/or confinement times and methods and none have performed as many early tests as Germany. Among other factors that may be significant are the dietary habits. It seems that some foods largely used in these countries may reduce angiotensin-converting enzyme activity or are anti-oxidants. Among the many possible areas of research, it might be important to understand diet and angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) levels in populations with different COVID-19 death rates since dietary interventions may be of great benefit.

Keywords: Angiotensin-converting enzyme; Antioxidant; Coronavirus; Diet; Food.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
COVID-19 deaths per million inhabitants in Europe (April 17, 2020). For France, deaths included hospital and extra-hospital deaths
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Regional COVID-19 death rates per million in four European countries
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
COVID-19 rates in Switzerland (Office fédéral de la santé publique). Cas confirmés en laboratoire (laboratory confirmed cases), distribution géographique (geographical distibution), cas décédés (death rate)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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