Alcohol consumption and obesity: The hidden scare with COVID-19 severity

Document Type

Article

Department

Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Abstract

Obese individuals seem to be at the highest risk of contracting COVID-19 infection. Furthermore, severity of morbidity and mortality rates are higher in the developed world as compared to the developing world. One probable reason for this difference could be the difference in living conditions and exposure to other infections. Secondly, the difference in food especially, alcohol use may have deteriorating effects superimposed with obesity. Our hypothesis suggests that a combination of alcohol consumption and obesity causes low immunity and makes the individual prone to develop 'cytokine storm' and 'acute respiratory distress syndrome'; the hallmark of COVID-19 mortality and morbidity. Thus, we propose that reducing any one trigger can have a beneficial effect in combating the disease severity.

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Publication (Name of Journal)

Medical Hypotheses

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