Food allergies can be a concern at best and a serious health risk at worst. However, there is an advantage for people who have a food allergy: they can be better protected by Covid-19.
A study funded by the National Institutes of Health in the United States has found that people with food allergies are less likely to become infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
The researchers found that those who had a food allergy had a 50% lower risk of becoming infected with the coronavirus than those without food allergies.
Dr. Tina Hartert, a professor of medicine and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville and co-director of the research, speculates that a "type 2 inflammation" characteristic of allergic conditions could lower protein levels. called the ACE2 receptor on the surface of airway cells.
The coronavirus uses this receptor to enter cells, so its absence may limit the virus's ability to infect them.
