5 ms·

Zinc Supplements Decrease Mortality in Covid-19 Patients: A Meta-Analysis

7 points by Spod_Gaju 2y ago

Khelavaster 2y ago
Zinc activates thymus hormones, which is what you want for COVIDy infections
- Spod_Gaju 2y ago
  From the Fred Hutch Cancer Center https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2022/03/dudakov-zinc-thymus-regeneration.html https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2022/03/dudako... "There’s a long history linking zinc with optimal immune function. For example, it’s known that people whose zinc levels are too low have little to no infection-fighting T cells and the thymus, the organ in which T cells develop, is nearly non-existent, Iovino said. When zinc-deficient people are given extra zinc, their thymuses grow and start pumping out these immune cells."
kevin_b_er 2y ago
Full paper at https://www.cureus.com/articles/141805-zinc-supplementation-associated-with-a-decrease-in-mortality-in-covid-19-patients-a-meta-analysis https://www.cureus.com/articles/141805-zinc-supplementation-... and not this summary. Key limitations: They only used 5 papers > There were limitations to this study. A small number of studies were assessed, only five were chosen for mortality analysis with a total sample size of 1,474 patients, and two were chosen for symptomology with a sample size of 391 patients. The design of the studies chosen limits the conclusions made in this study regarding mortality as three of the studies are retrospective studies and only two are randomized control trials for mortality. Both papers that assessed symptomology were randomized control trials. Between studies, zinc formulations were different, and in some cases, zinc was given in combination with other drugs. 3 of those studies were retrospectives, 2 were randomized studies. One of those randomized studies was halted for "futility" at zinc treatment. I'm suspicious about the conclusions.
- Spod_Gaju 2y ago
  There have been more studies since when this came out, which signals the probable importance of zinc in COVID prevalence. Plus they were only looking at mortality so there will always be fewer papers. Does this leave you less suspicious? These are all studies released in 2024: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408398.2022.2119932 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408398.2022.21... https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12011-023-03788-9 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12011-023-03788-9 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022316623727478 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00223... https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohammad-Alam-86/publication/377206585_Derangement_Of_Serum_Zinc_Level_After_Recovery_Of_Sars-Cov-2_Infection/links/6599af153c472d2e8eb96b91/Derangement-Of-Serum-Zinc-Level-After-Recovery-Of-Sars-Cov-2-Infection.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohammad-Alam-86/public... https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-53202-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-53202-0 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.1385591/full https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.13855... https://bmcnutr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40795-024-00821-5 https://bmcnutr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40795-02... https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41043-024-00504-8 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41043-024-00504-8 https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/cmc/pre-prints/content-bms-cmc-2023-655 https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/cmc/pre-prints/co... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666149724000173 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266614972... https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ptr.8096 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ptr.8096

7 points by Spod_Gaju 2y ago

Khelavaster 2y ago

Zinc activates thymus hormones, which is what you want for COVIDy infections

Spod_Gaju 2y ago
From the Fred Hutch Cancer Center https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2022/03/dudakov-zinc-thymus-regeneration.html https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2022/03/dudako... "There’s a long history linking zinc with optimal immune function. For example, it’s known that people whose zinc levels are too low have little to no infection-fighting T cells and the thymus, the organ in which T cells develop, is nearly non-existent, Iovino said. When zinc-deficient people are given extra zinc, their thymuses grow and start pumping out these immune cells."

kevin_b_er 2y ago

Full paper at https://www.cureus.com/articles/141805-zinc-supplementation-associated-with-a-decrease-in-mortality-in-covid-19-patients-a-meta-analysis https://www.cureus.com/articles/141805-zinc-supplementation-... and not this summary. Key limitations: They only used 5 papers > There were limitations to this study. A small number of studies were assessed, only five were chosen for mortality analysis with a total sample size of 1,474 patients, and two were chosen for symptomology with a sample size of 391 patients. The design of the studies chosen limits the conclusions made in this study regarding mortality as three of the studies are retrospective studies and only two are randomized control trials for mortality. Both papers that assessed symptomology were randomized control trials. Between studies, zinc formulations were different, and in some cases, zinc was given in combination with other drugs. 3 of those studies were retrospectives, 2 were randomized studies. One of those randomized studies was halted for "futility" at zinc treatment. I'm suspicious about the conclusions.

Spod_Gaju 2y ago
There have been more studies since when this came out, which signals the probable importance of zinc in COVID prevalence. Plus they were only looking at mortality so there will always be fewer papers. Does this leave you less suspicious? These are all studies released in 2024: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408398.2022.2119932 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408398.2022.21... https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12011-023-03788-9 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12011-023-03788-9 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022316623727478 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00223... https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohammad-Alam-86/publication/377206585_Derangement_Of_Serum_Zinc_Level_After_Recovery_Of_Sars-Cov-2_Infection/links/6599af153c472d2e8eb96b91/Derangement-Of-Serum-Zinc-Level-After-Recovery-Of-Sars-Cov-2-Infection.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohammad-Alam-86/public... https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-53202-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-53202-0 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.1385591/full https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.13855... https://bmcnutr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40795-024-00821-5 https://bmcnutr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40795-02... https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41043-024-00504-8 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41043-024-00504-8 https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/cmc/pre-prints/content-bms-cmc-2023-655 https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/cmc/pre-prints/co... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666149724000173 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266614972... https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ptr.8096 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ptr.8096