2 Keto Dudes Podcast Special Covid-19 Report

(Brandy) #1

@carl and @richard released a special episode regarding Covid-19, with guest Dave Feldman. Shared their thoughts about the virus. I was glad to hear their voices and the discussion is worth the listen.
http://2ketodudes.com/show.aspx?episode=200

(Ben ) #2

It’s a bit long but made things a lot clearer. Thanks!

(Polly) #3

I have just finished listening. Thank you.

#4

Great stuff. Important information about not using ibuprofen anti-inflammatory in treating the fever symptoms but to use acetaminophen / paracetamol instead, if the fever gets uncomfortable. The science behind that nugget of information is fascinating (about how the corona virus gets into cells).

Going to add in here some more detailed information from James DiNicolantonio PhD about the body fever range that is optimal for killing the virus is between 38.6’C and 39.7’C. Normal body temp is under 37’C. So don’t grab that paracetamol too early, if you can bear it. But if it cranks up to about 39.5’C it might be time to take a dose. This speaks to the importance of having a thermometer in your first aid kit.

Meat Chewin' June - June 2022 Carnivore Chat
(Brandy) #5

Yeah, my husband and I picked out the bit about ibuprofen as well. I’d known from somewhere that acute inflammation (not chronic) was a tool the body used to fight infection and that we shouldn’t interfere, but it kind of passed through my consciousness without sticking- probably while I was popping three Advil. It’s stuck this time around though.

(Jenna Ericson) #6

I just listened to this podcast and have one question that I hope I can get an answer to. My question is regarding the connection between glucose production/utilization in the body and an immune response.

When I was at Ketofest last year I remember Siobhan Huggins showing a graph of her blood sugar over time and mentioning that when she had an illness her blood sugar was elevated, and ketones were lower. I believe I’ve heard other people mention higher blood sugar levels during an illness as well.

My conclusion was that an immune response demands glucose. My question is, can anyone confirm that this is accurate? Blood sugar was mentioned in this podcast, but there was no definitive answer to my question.

I suppose that maybe the body’s mechanism for dealing with a threat would be to make you more insulin resistant (since insulin is inherently inflammatory and inflammation would be beneficial in a reaction to an outside invader). So maybe it’s less that the immune system is demanding glucose and more that it is demanding insulin, which then leads to the higher blood sugar.

It could be both too, I guess.

There seems to be a lot of comorbidity when it comes to insulin resistance and the more serious cases of Covid-19 (I also just listened to Paul Saladino’s podcast about Coronavirus in which he talks about this). What I think is going on is that people who are insulin resistant have a lot of chronic stress put on their glycolytic system. They can’t switch efficiently to burning fat, so their body defaults to using glucose more than it should, while also not being able to effectively use insulin to get glucose into cells. I think this means that when an infection comes along that might be easily dealt with by a healthy immune system, someone who is insulin resistant with an overstressed glycolytic system can’t handle it as easily and becomes sicker because the illness presents an added stress to their glycolytic system. I think there is more to be said about an overstressed immune system that is overactive as a result of insulin resistance which could lead to things like the cytokine storm that can happen in the lungs with Covid-19, but I guess that’s another topic :blush:

Maybe another way of asking my question would be does anyone know if processes responsible for mounting an immune defense (like maybe the production of white blood cells) require glucose as energy as opposed to fat?

Possible relationship between covid-19 and blood sugar
(Jenna Ericson) #7

I was trying to look into the role of glucose in the immune system following my last post here and I found this:

The study “objectives were to estimate whole-body glucose utilization following an i.v. endotoxin challenge” in cows. So basically, they injected cows with inflammatory substances vs. a control and found that the cows required more than a kg of glucose in response to the inflammation.

A statement in the introduction answers my original question pretty succinctly: “In vitro experiments demonstrate a substantial increase in glucose consumption by activated immune cells, as glucose is their primary fuel and an important biosynthetic precursor” (Calder et al., 2007; Palsson-McDermott and O’Neill, 2013)

So it seems pretty clear to me that an immune response demands glucose. I know that the immune system is very complicated and requires balances of vitamin D and C, plus zinc, magnesium and copper and on and on, but my interest is in figuring out how insulin and glucose interact with the immune system and I think I just took a baby step toward that answer :slight_smile:

(Bunny) #8

From what I understand it depends on a persons metabolic state. For example a mouse (a human?) that is fat adapted will have delta T—Cell formation in the mucosal lining of the lower lungs making them bullet-proof against an airborne virus encounter(s)?

That is; a mucosal type anti-viral barrier an exclusive glucose burner does not have!

(Jenna Ericson) #9

I was sort of wondering about that. So maybe the fuel source for immune cells could be either fat or glucose depending on what the body is used to burning. Kind of like how protein can have different effects on people depending on how insulin resistance they are.

Things like gluconeogenesis are still demand driven, but if your body is only used to burning carbs there will be more demand for glucose, so more gluconeogenesis.