Why Diabetes Makes You More Susceptible to Viruses
4/9/20
Did you know diabetes makes you more susceptible to viruses (like COVID-19)? Find out why.
GET YOUR EATING RIGHT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMZfy…
Timestamps
0:10 COVID-19 and diabetes
0:18 Why are diabetics at a higher risk?
1:09 A few additional things to be aware of
3:25 What to do
Today we’re going to talk about why diabetes can make you more susceptible to getting viruses like COVID-19. Being a diabetic actually triples the mortality rate from the COVID-19 virus.
The virus enters the cell through your own body’s receptor. This type of receptor is called the ACE2 receptor. The virus enters and starts to replicate. The more ACE2 receptors you have on your cells, the more susceptible you could be to this virus.
• Diabetics have a lot more ACE2 receptor proteins on their cells.
• People with high blood glucose have more ACE2 receptor proteins on their cells.
• People with higher amounts of insulin have more ACE2 receptor proteins on their cells.
A few additional things to be aware of:
• Insulin resistance can impair your immune response to a virus.
• People with hyperglycemia (high sugar) have a decrease in neutrophils. Neutrophils eat viruses, they release anti-microbial chemicals that kill pathogens, and they use NETS to dissolve microbes with chemicals. If you don’t have enough neutrophils, your immune system is going to be compromised, and your body won’t have the weapons to fight off viruses.
If you have diabetes and you’re concerned about COVID-19 (coronavirus), you may want to consider decreasing your carbs (the healthy keto diet) and intermittent fasting. This could potentially help greatly improve diabetes and help support the immune system.
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