High Blood Glucose Linked to Higher Risk of Negative COVID Outcomes

Back in May of 2020 (fresh into the global pandemic) I wrote a blog post and provided tips on how to prevent serious COVID outcomes. I was met with comments like “this is a problem now, improving health is good but not the answer” and “you don’t understand, this is an emergency”. Health wasn’t the focus, preventing exposure and a forthcoming vaccine were where most laid their trust. Now, here we are over 18 months into the pandemic with a vaccine and booster shots BUT the cases keep growing. I’m not opposed to the vaccine or any effective method of protection. However, there is a clear protocol people should highly consider, I’ll explain in this post.

For context: Here’s an excerpt of what I posted in May of 2020:

“Conversation SHOULD be About Health“

“Talking about personal responsibility and wellness should NOT be taboo. Not sure where to get started, here, I’ll help you:“

“Get Great Sleep (don’t wear a lack of sleep as a badge of honor)
Move (you could workout, walk, plant a garden, hunt, anything… just move)
Get Ample Sunlight (stop wearing sunscreen unless you’ll burn) YOU NEED vitamin D – Light is medicine and COVID is starting to brightly outline Vitamin D deficiencies in those suffering from the virus.
Stop Overindulging with Sugars (learn to control your blood sugar)
Fast (take a break from eating all of the time) – Intermittent Fasting is POWERFUL!
BONUS: get time in the Sauna & take Cold Showers (Okay, these are just my personal favorites, they’re powerful too).“

Back to today: Each of the items listed above help CONTROL BLOOD SUGAR

This leads me to the data:

A Machine-Generated View of the Role of Blood Glucose Levels in the Severity of COVID-19

(source)

“We developed machine learning models to mine 240,000 scientific articles openly accessible in the CORD-19 database, and constructed knowledge graphs to synthesize the extracted information and navigate the collective knowledge in an attempt to search for a potential common underlying reason for disease severity. The machine-driven framework we developed repeatedly pointed to elevated blood glucose as a key facilitator in the progression of COVID-19.”

Elevated Blood Sugar Greatly Increases COVID Risks

Here are the key takeaways from this Machine Generated study:

An expert knowledge system was used to mine and map data in the open-access CORD-19 literature database.
Elevated blood glucose was found to be THE MOST LIKELY SINGLE RISK FACTOR for negative COVID outcomes.
Elevated blood glucose can facilitate virtually every step of the SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Elevated blood glucose increases glucose in the pulmonary airway surface liquid (ASL): Breaks down antiviral defense of the lungs which increases the risk of viral infection and replication.
Elevated blood glucose causes dysregulations in the immune response that facilitates the cytokine storm and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
Elevated glucose levels act synergistically with SARS-CoV-2-dependent inactivation of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) to escalate the disease to multi-organ failure and thrombotic events.

Right now is the time to take personal responsibility and STOP the overconsumption of carbohydrate.

What does it mean to over-consume carbohydrate?

When you eat most carbs, they turn to sugar. There are some “carbs” that are not metabolized in the small intestine (fibers and some alternative sweeteners for example). However, for sake of clarity, I’m referring to standard carbohydrates like pasta, bread, candy, soda, and sweet treats (obviously, there’s more but hopefully you get the idea).

“Carbohydrates are not chemically broken down in the stomach, but rather in the small intestine. Pancreatic amylase and the disaccharidases finish the chemical breakdown of digestible carbohydrates. The monosaccharides are absorbed into the bloodstream and delivered to the liver.” – source

Overconsumption of carbohydrate occurs when your body cannot utilize the sugars created from consuming carbs. However, you’re not over-consuming carbs if your body utilizes all of the blood sugar. For example, if you’re actively lifting weights and consuming limited carbohydrate it’s likely that your body will utilize what’s consumed. There’s no need to vilify carbs, I think they have a place and can be useful. I don’t believe they’re essential but I do think when properly consumed, they can be useful. You can still eat carbs and not over-consume HOWEVER… for most it’s very difficult (especially if you’re not very active and like to eat).

What happens when you over-consume carbs?

Nearly all fatal disease has roots in insulin resistance. When you over-consume carbs your body produces the hormone insulin to store excess glucose as fat for use later. Excess body fat is one symptom of over-consumption of carbohydrate. Insulin resistance is when your body is unable to successfully utilize insulin due to years of abuse. Regular elevated blood sugar over an extended period is dangerous and WILL lead to negative health consequences.

Many have reversed type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance by drastically reducing carbohydrate intake (most common methodology is the Keto Diet).

Learn more about the symptoms of Metabolic Syndrome in this post.

Are there outliers to this data?

Absolutely. There are going to be and have been people who do not have elevated blood sugar that experienced negative COVID outcomes. However, those individuals (according to this data) are outliers.

What should I do?

Take all precautions you deem appropriate AND change how you eat. If you’re not already limiting your carbohydrate intake, start now. There’s time, in fact… the results from cutting excess carbohydrate intake over 18 months can be definitively life changing (18+ months is currently about how long we’ve known about the virus and how long you could have been working toward the goal).

Besides, the overwhelming data points to so many positive health outcomes from being insulin sensitive: reduced incident of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and more.

If you don’t want to suffer or live in fear, make a change now.

I’ll reiterate my list of what you should be doing now (that I originally posted in May of 2020)

“Get Great Sleep (don’t wear a lack of sleep as a badge of honor)
Move (you could workout, walk, plant a garden, hunt, anything… just move)
Get Ample Sunlight (stop wearing sunscreen unless you’ll burn) YOU NEED vitamin D – Light is medicine and COVID is starting to brightly outline Vitamin D deficiencies in those suffering from the virus.
Stop Overindulging with Sugars (learn to control your blood sugar)
Fast (take a break from eating all of the time) – Intermittent Fasting is POWERFUL!
BONUS: get time in the Sauna & take Cold Showers (Okay, these are just my personal favorites, they’re powerful too).“

Each of these suggestions will improve your blood glucose levels and help you feel better, improve your outlook on life, and avoid serious complications.

The information on this page are my views alone and should not be taken as personal medical advice.