What to Eat When You Have COVID-19 to Soothe Symptoms - Prevention Magazine

There’s really nothing out there about a COVID diet, either to try to speed up your symptoms or make you feel better.

“Right now, there’s no data that show that eating special types of food or taking certain vitamins for COVID-19 like vitamin D, zinc, or vitamin C are going to influence the course of your COVID,” says Thomas Russo, M.D., professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York.

Even things like vitamin C are unlikely to make an impact, he says, adding, “there is no evidence of benefits for vitamin C supplementation in people with sufficient levels.”.

And, while research has found that people who eat fermented foods have a more diverse gut microbiome, which can impact your immune response, it’s also unlikely to help once you’re actually sick, says Richard Watkins, M.D., an infectious disease physician in Akron, Ohio, and a professor of internal medicine at the Northeast Ohio Medical University.

Russo says you could try the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) to see if it helps.

Adalja says that you really should just “eat whatever is tolerable.”.

Watkins recommends still trying to eat a nutritious diet, even though you may not feel like eating much.

Again, it’s unlikely that any particular foods will influence the course of your illness, but eating certain foods could make you feel less-than-optimal while your body is fighting off the infection.

Fast foods, fried foods, and things that are high in added sugar may simply make you feel crummy on top of already feeling bad from having COVID, Dr.

They may even increase inflammation in your body, although the occasional fried food or treat is unlikely to do that in the context of an otherwise healthy diet, says Jessica Cording, R.D., C.D.N., a dietitian and health coach, and author of The Little Book of Game-Changers.