Active Low-Carber Forums - View Single Post - Covid-19 does not discriminate by body weight

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While many people experience mild illness, 89% of people with COVID-19 who were sick enough to be hospitalized had at least one chronic condition. About half had high blood pressure and obesity, according to data from the CDC. And about a third had diabetes and a third had cardiovascular disease. So, what explains this?

Metabolic disease explains this. These are all symptoms of metabolic disorder.

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"Obesity is a marker for a number of other problems," explains Dr. Aaron Carroll, a public health researcher at the Indiana University School of Medicine. It's increasingly common for those who develop obesity to develop diabetes and other conditions, as well. So, one reason COVID-19 is taking its toll on people who have obesity is that their overall health is often compromised.

No, obesity is a symptom of the diabetes, not something else that just happened along at the same time. And yes, people who show signs of compromised health from metabolic illness, such as obesity, are apparently at greater risk.

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But does obesity specifically affect the immune system? Perhaps.

Because the obesity is a sign they're sick and that the immune system may not be functioning too well. As shown in the following:

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Prior research has shown that people with obesity are less protected by the flu vaccine. They tend to get sicker from the respiratory disease even if they've been immunized.

I see a possibility here of reverse causation:

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In fact, researchers have found that as people gain excess weight, their metabolism changes and this shift can make the immune system less effective at fighting off viruses.

My thought is the increase in unhealthy metabolism changes drive the weight gain and immune system compromise.

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"What we see with obesity is that these [immune] cells don't function as well,' says Melinda Beck, a health researcher at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

But again I see in her explanation the potential of reversed causality:

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Basically, she explains, obesity throws off the fuel sources that immune cells need to function. "The [immune cells] are not using the right kinds of fuels," Beck says. And, as a result, the condition of obesity seems to "impair that critical immune response [needed] to deal with either the virus infection or [the ability] to make a robust response to a vaccine."

Yes, the immune cells aren't using the right kinds of fuels. With obesity a clue of underlying metabolic disease, they're probably running on unhealthy high levels of glucose present in the body due to insulin resistance. But rather than "obesity throws off the fuel sources that immune cells need to function" a more accurate description may be metabolic disease, of which obesity is one sign, is doing this to the immune cells. Trying to break away here from the old notion that obesity is brought on by over-eating/under-moving and then goes on to be the cause of other health problems. The sugary drink makers would like us to believe that explanation. Like, remember to balance what you eat and drink with what you do? I saw something like that on a bottle at the store. Some would love for us to think obesity is our own fault for not following that kind of advice. I've been personally focusing lately on doing what lifestyle things I can to strengthen my immune system against illness. And combating things that lead toward insulin resistance and metabolic disorder, whether obesity shows up as one of its symptoms or not, looks to me to be pretty important right now for people's health. For me a big part of that is eating low carb.