What Does Food Have To Do With COVID-19?

Overview

If we as a population were healthier (think less obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, etc.), the evidence supports that we’d be faring much better throughout this pandemic.

Unfortunately, in the United States, only 12% of us in the US are metabolically healthy, putting us at higher risk of worse outcomes from COVID-19. Of course, a major driver of chronic diseases and the risks they create is our food system. We can’t expect to be a resilient population if we aren’t feeding our bodies real food with real nutrients we can use to function optimally.

In this mini-episode, we revisit two conversations Dr. Hyman had with his colleagues Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian and Dr. Elizabeth Boham at the beginning of the pandemic about how food and nutrition are inextricably linked to COVID-19. Dr. Boham also shares how to use food as medicine for immune support.

Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian is a cardiologist, Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition and Medicine, and Dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, the oldest and most renowned graduate school of nutrition in North America. He has authored more than 300 scientific publications on the dietary priorities to reduce cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity in the US and globally; and on evidence-based systems innovations and policies to effectively reduce these burdens.

Elizabeth Boham is a physician and nutritionist who practices Functional Medicine at The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, MA. Through her practice and lecturing she has helped thousands of people achieve their goals of optimum health and wellness. She witnesses the power of nutrition every day in her practice and is committed to training other physicians to utilize nutrition in healing. Dr. Boham has contributed to many articles and wrote the latest chapter on Obesity for the Rankel Textbook of Family Medicine. She is part of the faculty of the Institute for Functional Medicine and has been featured on the Dr. Oz show and in a variety of publications and media including Huffington Post, The Chalkboard Magazine, and Experience Life. Her DVD Breast Wellness: Tools to Prevent and Heal from Breast Cancer explores the Functional Medicine approach to keeping your breasts and whole body well.